joshedwards.com

There’s An App For That …

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 10:54 pm
By Josh

So this is terribly geeky, but indulge me.

I’ve come to realize over the last two months that the whole point of having an Apple iPhone is to amass applications, or “apps” in the colloquial.

One doesn’t make “apps”, though, that’s too tricky.

To make an “app” one needs to submit it through the Apple Store and their Byzantine application process. That takes time, money, and a strict review process.

The alternative is that one can simply make a webpage and have people add a bookmark to it to their home screen.

As you know, a few weeks ago I made this website mobile friendly. But the logo to the bookmark was a snapshot of the webpage, which is, quite frankly, ugly.

So tonight I discovered how to make the icon pretty.

Check out this screen shot of my home page as it stands tonight (hint, look between the Calendar and the Camera):

I think that is very cool …

Tags: Apple, icon, iPhone
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Disney Media and Advertising Lab?

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 9:55 am
By Josh

I’d never heard of this before: “Disney’s lab studies people“.

Key quote:

A typical study might have two similar groups of viewers witnessing almost identical content under identical conditions. That way any differences in their reactions can be attributed to the difference in content alone.

The lab gathers biometric data on the viewers: eye-gaze tracking, heart rate, skin conductivity. That information gives insight into their reactions that surveys couldn’t capture. For the future, the lab is looking at brainwave measurements as another tool.

The concept for the Disney lab was born at a Disney ad sales forum. The Mouse and its advertisers found it was becoming very difficult to know which ads were working.

Weird.

Tags: Austin, Disney, Disney Media and Advertising Lab, marketing, Texas, Variety
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Funny Joke

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 6:25 am
By Josh

I just read a funny joke on the Daily Kos:

A CEO, a tea party member, and a union worker are all sitting at a table when a plate with a dozen cookies arrives. Before anyone else can make a move, the CEO reaches out to rake in eleven of the cookies. When the other two look at him in surprise, the CEO locks eyes with the tea party member. “You better watch him,” the executive says with a nod toward the union worker. “He wants a piece of your cookie.”

Tags: business, CEO, joke, Tea Party, union
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Disney post-Disney, Apple post-Jobs

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 5:05 am
By Josh

Aol’s DailyFinance website had a so-so article yesterday I wanted to share: “Apple After Steve Jobs? Disney May Hold a Clue“.

The premise is that the Walt Disney Company (then named “Walt Disney Productions”) survived after Walt Disney’s December 1966 death, and actually grew significantly in the period in which is was governed by Roy O. Disney, Walt’s older brother.

What I thought initially was the key quote:

Roy Disney not only furthered the vision he had shared with Walt, he managed Disney through some of its best years. The chart below shows Disney’s stock performance against the Dow Jones Industrial Average for the six years after Walt Disney died. By December 1972, Disney’s stock had appreciated 1,140% from December 1966. The Dow had gained only 30%.

My first thought was, “Wow, that’s a fantastic number!”

But then something caught my eye. Roy O. Disney died in December of 1971.

We all know this because Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971, and Roy had a massive stroke fewer than three months later.

Their 1,140% number is from December of 1972.

That’s sheer trickery.

Sure, in December of 1971 Disney stock was still a respectable 700-something-percent above where it was after Walt’s death, but the massive speculation after Roy O. Disney passed is where the inflated 1,140% comes from. Investors, quite honestly, though the company was going up for sale or auction now that both founding brothers were gone.

Could they be more blatant with their goofy numbers?

As far as Apple goes: A) Steve Jobs has no brother, so this comparison is lame, B) Steve Jobs was missing from Apple for a decade between 1985 and 1996 and the company damn-near went bankrupt, and C) since his return Jobs has groomed the COO, Tim Cook, as possible-future-leader – in fact, right now he’s acting-CEO – so they do have a succession plan.

Stupid article.

Tags: Aol, Apple, business, debunking, Disney, Roy O. Disney, stock
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New Leibovitz Disney Portraits

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 5:00 am
By Josh

Last week the Disney Parks Blog posted a few new photos from Annie Leibovitz: “Disney Parks Unveils New Annie Leibovitz Disney Dream Portraits“.

Check out Olivia Wilde and Alec Baldwin from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Penelope Cruz and Jeff Bridges from Beauty and the Beast, and Queen Latifah as Ursula from The Little Mermaid:

Tags: Alec Baldwin, Annie Leibovitz, Beauty and the Beast, Disney, Disney Dream Portraits, Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, Queen Latifah, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid
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Lefty

Monday, March 7, 2011 at 5:35 am
By Josh

I’ll probably mess this link up, I’m having difficulty with posting links from my phone, but check out this article on left-handedness from today’s New York Times: http://nyti.ms/ih9B0U

“On the Left Hand, There Are No Easy Answers”

I don’t care for how the author used the word “wrong” a few times, but he ended with Jon Lester, so that’s something …

Tags: left-handednes, NY Times
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Coconutty!

Monday, March 7, 2011 at 5:00 am
By Josh

While on vacation last week I saw an interesting article in the New York Times: “Once a Villain, Coconut Oil Charms the Health Food World“.

Key quote:

“But my favorite new way to use coconut oil is for popcorn. The oil brings out the nutty sweetness of the corn itself while adding a rich creamy sensation, without having to pour melted butter on the top.”

I had to pick some up.

Whole Foods, amazingly, had three different varieties of virgin coconut oil.

Over the weekend we made popcorn with it, and it was fantastic. Just like the article said, no butter needed.

Tags: cooking, NY Times, recipe
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We’re back!

Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 10:38 am
By Josh

We’re back from our vacation to Florida and Walt ~~Pixar~~ World. Err … “Walt Disney World”.

For a minute I was confused, it appeared those Pixar characters had taken over the entire kingdom. But more on that another time.

It’s odd, they’re gearing up for the 40th Anniversary down there (the Magic Kingdom opened on October 1, 1971).

It makes me feel old that I remember the 15th Anniversary so vividly.

Walt Disney World 15th Anniversary logo

Anyway, photos will be along in a few days.

Tags: Disney, vacation, Walt Disney World
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Empty Two-Fifths

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 12:13 pm
By Josh

I just saw a Bloomberg article has a fun fact about Dubai:

In the next two years, tens of thousands of new properties will come onto a market where about 40 percent of homes and offices are empty.

For more, check out: “Dubai Can’t Break Building Addiction With Glut of Properties Still Growing“.

Tags: Bloomberg, Dubai, Dubai real estate, real estate
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Disney Video Sociology

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 8:19 am
By Josh

So we watched a Walt Disney World planning video last night.

Actually I should say I sprung a Walt Disney World planning video on Liz last night.

The sad part is that it was pretty hokey; even my own interest was waining, so I couldn’t fault Liz when I saw out of the corner of my eye that she had picked up her iPhone and started scrolling through something more interesting.

So I quickly turned it into a sociological experiment: I pointed out that one of the video’s hostesses spoke perfect English, with just a hint of a Mediterranean accent. Was she Greek? Turkish?

The iPhone went to the coffee table. Liz was back in the game.

We determined that her parents emigrated to Canada sometime around the Lebanese Civil War in 1975 when she was young, like say 6 years old.

Liz was hooked. We investigated each time they used African American actors. Asian American actors. Grandparents. Honeymooners.

It’s actually a pretty interesting experiment, because every actor’s casting was a clear choice, likely debated by a team of experts and executives and marketing people.

Tags: Disney, sociology, vacation, Walt Disney World
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Toyota Hates Lincoln

Monday, February 21, 2011 at 10:12 am
By Josh

Happy Presidents Day!

Or, if you’re Toyota – “Happy Washington’s Birthday”.

Does anyone else think that’s weird?

Where’s Abraham Lincoln?!

Maybe the fact that Saturday was the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of Jefferson Davis as the President of the Confederate States of America had something to do with it?

That the company’s division responsible for Toyota’s engineering design and development, R&D, and manufacturing activities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada is headquartered in Erlanger, Kentucky?

Or that, of the ten manufacturing locations in the United States, seven are in the South?

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, North America, Inc. (Erlanger, Kentucky)
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama, Inc.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana, Inc.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, Inc.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia, Inc.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi, Inc.
Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc.
Bodine Aluminum, Inc. (Missouri & Tennessee)
TABC, Inc. (Long Beach, California)
Canadian Autoparts Toyota, Inc.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Inc.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California, S. de R.L. de C.V.

And let’s face it, there were plenty of Southern Sympathizers in Indiana. While the state stayed Union, I think several counties seceded.

So clearly, Toyota, as a southern company, hates Abe Lincoln and has moved to erase him from their advertising, and thus, American media.

Happy Presidents Day.

(And yes, I realize that “George Washington’s Birthday” is the official Federal holiday, but honestly when was the last time you ever heard someone call it that?!?)

Tags: Abraham Lincoln, conspiracy, George Washington, Presidents Day, Toyota
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Majority Rule?

Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 8:03 pm
By Josh

Interesting new bill proposed by Republican Senator Thomas Saviello: LD 607 (SP 187) “RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Require the Governor To Be Elected by a Majority Vote“.

No way this passes, but I have to mention it because yesterday I received my “Maine’s Majority” stickers in the mail:

Order yours today!

Tags: Maine, Maine's Majority, Paul LePage, politics, things that I agree with
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Road Debris on LA Freeways

Friday, February 18, 2011 at 3:12 pm
By Josh

Wow, another reason not to live in LA: “Road debris means a commute paved with peril.”

Tags: freeways, LA Times, things that are sad
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Dunk in Dubai

Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 2:01 pm
By Josh

Part of me thinks that it’s funny that there are 61 Dunkin Donuts locations in the UAE and none in Los Angeles.

Apparently a new one just opened at Uptown Motor City in Dubai: “Dunkin’ Donuts opens new Dubai outlet“.

Tags: Dubai, Dunkin Donuts, tradearabia.com, UAE
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John Lewis’ Quote

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 9:03 am
By Josh

I’m sure you saw that President Obama bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom yesterday, but a quote from this article really got to me: “Obama lauds Medal of Freedom recipients“.

“Generations from now, when parents teach their children what is meant by courage, the story of John Lewis will come to mind: an American who knew that change could not wait for some other person or some other time,” Obama said.

The Georgia congressman said the award was even more special coming from Obama.

“If someone had told me that one day I would be standing in the White House and an African-American president would be presenting me the Medal of Freedom I would say, ‘Are you crazy? Are you out of your mind?’” he told reporters afterward. “It’s just an impossible dream.”

Also nice that Bill Russell and Maya Angelou were recognized, as well.

Tags: AP, Barack Obama, Civil Rights, John Lewis, politics, Presidential Medal of Freedom
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Zecharia Sitchin was Right?!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 9:12 am
By Josh

Holy shit they just found Nibiru!

Check out: “Up telescope! Search begins for giant new planet“.

If you grew up thinking there were nine planets and were shocked when Pluto was demoted five years ago, get ready for another surprise. There may be nine after all, and Jupiter may not be the largest.

The hunt is on for a gas giant up to four times the mass of Jupiter thought to be lurking in the outer Oort Cloud, the most remote region of the solar system. The orbit of Tyche (pronounced ty-kee), would be 15,000 times farther from the Sun than the Earth’s, and 375 times farther than Pluto’s, which is why it hasn’t been seen so far.

(Nibiru, for those of you who aren’t tinfoil hat enthusiasts, is the planet from which extraterrestrial who visited the Babylonians originated, at least, according to looney tunes Zecharia Sitchin).

Tags: astronomy, Nibiru, pseudoscience, The Independent, Tyche, Zecharia Sitchin
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