Cappuccino

"Apple carried out research into breathing rates during sleep and used that figure to derive a model..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:18:06 -0400

“Apple carried out research into breathing rates during sleep and used that figure to derive a model for how the light should behave to create the most relaxing atmosphere and make the product seem more human than robot.”

- of course they did. (via Quora)

Rambling around on my way to the Forbidden City. (Listen to this...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:45:41 -0400

Rambling around on my way to the Forbidden City. (Listen to this one with the volume on.)

Friends I made in Tiananmen Square. (I think I had a dozen...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:42:20 -0400

Friends I made in Tiananmen Square. (I think I had a dozen middle-school kids around me at one point.)

Tiananmen Square being remarkably square-like. (I’m not...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:40:37 -0400

Tiananmen Square being remarkably square-like. (I’m not sure what I expected, but this really was “just” an open square. And no fire extinguishers in site – find Evan Osnos’ New Yorker blog post for more on this – though, once, a police truck wheezed through.

Inside the (now-much-less) Forbidden City. The entire event...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:38:02 -0400

Inside the (now-much-less) Forbidden City. The entire event involved fewer non-Chinese tourists than I’d expected.

Contender for most-accurately named Airbnb I think

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:43:30 -0400

Contender for most-accurately named Airbnb I think

Variations on Beijing breakfast

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:47:24 -0400

Variations on Beijing breakfast

at 天安门广场 Tian’anmen Square

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:55:32 -0400

at 天安门广场 Tian’anmen Square

looking down on a fuzzy morning in beijing

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 19:00:26 -0400

looking down on a fuzzy morning in beijing

guess the market

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:46:38 -0400

guess the market:

Jon Stewart, in other words, seems to have stumbled upon one of the most underserved media markets in the world.

in which Uniqlo discovers a repeatable strategy

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:44:26 -0400

in which Uniqlo discovers a repeatable strategy:

The recipe for Japanese retailers to do well in China then: sell great skinny jeans to urban professionals who care more about the cut of their clothes and the brand of their smartphone than national identity. And be quiet about where you come from.

one of the most under-reported issues when it comes to education...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:14:08 -0400

one of the most under-reported issues when it comes to education today.

In which P&G discovers consumer surplus

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:57:11 -0400

In which P&G discovers consumer surplus

Speaking at Flatiron School about my last few months of coding....

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:14:53 -0400

Speaking at Flatiron School about my last few months of coding. Tons of fun.

SF Things

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 06:37:00 -0400

SF Things:

Spent a week in San Francisco, and a few things struck.

(Also, I wrote a blog post! eee!)

"…we found no statistically significant differences in standard measures of learning outcomes (pass..."

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 08:33:46 -0400

“…we found no statistically significant differences in standard measures of learning outcomes (pass or completion rates, scores on common final exam questions, and results of a national test of statistical literacy) between students in the traditional classes and students in the hybrid-online format classes…This finding, in and of itself, is not different from the results of many other studies. But it is important to emphasize that the relevant effect coefficients in this study have very small standard errors…what we have here are “quite precisely estimated zeros.” That is, if there had in fact been pronounced differences in outcomes between traditional-format and hybrid-format groups, it is highly likely that we would have found them.”

- still, great cause for optimism. (from the hybrid educational model works)

"I’ve never made it through a complete MOOC,” Thrun confessed."

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 08:33:17 -0400

““I’ve never made it through a complete MOOC,” Thrun confessed.”

- Udacity’s Sebastian Thrun On the Future of Education

Visual Journal: Don't Miss My First Class (Very Colorful)

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:58:13 -0400

Visual Journal: Don't Miss My First Class (Very Colorful):

minsunmini:

My dream to teach design is finally coming true this Saturday and I am excited as well as anxious.

Last Friday, Beth and I met up with Sam Potts to get final review on our Graphic Design 101: Color Your Work. We presented out flow in a messy but beautiful whiteboard writing….

sva students teaching! inexpensive design education in nyc! making $1000 on the internet! many excitements!

"You will get a speaking role in the movie. Here’s the scene — Veronica is eating with the man in her..."

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:26:31 -0400

“You will get a speaking role in the movie. Here’s the scene — Veronica is eating with the man in her life. Things have gotten tense between them. You are the waiter/waitress. You approach the table, and you say, “Your check, sir.” We guarantee you will be on camera as you say the line. Unless you go all hammy and ruin the scene and we have to cut you out, but that would be a sad day for all of us. Just say the line. Don’t over-think it. You’re a waiter. Your motivation is to turn over the table. In addition to appearing in the movie, you’ll receive a framed copy of the page of the script that includes your line. You’ll get an invitation to the premiere and the after party. You are, after all, in the movie. Think of yourself as Guy Fleegman from Galaxy Quest. People will surely want autographs. You’ll also receive the signed movie poster, the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack, the digital version of the movie, the T-shirt and a pdf of the shooting script.”

- the kickstarter rewards for the veronica mars movie are so, so good.

"And in his 20s, Mr. Carmellini managed to dodge the Preening Young Visionary phase that would become..."

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:26:05 -0400

“And in his 20s, Mr. Carmellini managed to dodge the Preening Young Visionary phase that would become so common with the cresting popularity of the Food Network. “I guess I took my time a little bit,” he said. “I wanted to run restaurants for other people, first. I wanted to have that practice first. If you want to be a great chef, you can’t rush it too much.””

- ha!