Why the Firefox rapid release schedule matters
The open web is the most amazing, universal communication and distribution platform ever built. To win, the web needs to be agile and responsive. To help it, we need to be agile and responsive, too. That’s why rapid release matters.
The simplistic moralising from both the left and the right has an almost self-congratulatory tone to it. Each side paints the cause of the U.K.’s recent riots in their own image. But while the left’s has at least a patina of hope, the right’s is one of demonisation.
Sometimes it takes an outside observer to speak bluntly, as in this NYT editorial, Wrong Answers in Britain:
Crimes are crimes whoever commits them. And the duty of government is to protect the law-abiding, not to engage in simplistic and divisive moralizing that fails to distinguish between criminals, victims and helpless relatives and bystanders.
HP’s homepage currently has a banner:
YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR IT…
Be one of the first!
HP TouchPad rocks like nothing else.
Order it now.
In terms of user experience aspiration, WebOS seems the only real iPad competitor right now. Which makes it so sad that this should perhaps read, “Be one of the only!”:
HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.
Don’t look down: The poor like taxing the rich less than you would think
Paradoxically, as the share of the population that receives benefits in a given area rises, support for welfare in the area falls. A new NBER paper finds evidence for an even more intriguing and provocative hypothesis. Its authors note that those near but not at the bottom of the income distribution are often deeply ambivalent about greater redistribution.
The recent stubborn politicking over the U.S.’s need to raise its debt ceiling struck me as worrisome in its Tea Party-fueled churlishness. The Economist hits the nail on the head with this assessment of S&P’s decision to downgrade its opinion of America’s credit-worthiness. While I’m no fan of the ratings agencies, hoicking such a serious issue around for political gain shows a potentially disastrous lack of maturity in America’s current political climate.