Umamiblog

Interesting to see Chrome break 20% market share, mostly by eating into IE, but also a fraction of Firefox.

Certainly is my browser of choice.

Arts & Letters Daily introducing ‘How China sees the world’:

Beijing’s chattering class. China has 400 think tanks, where opinions vary from government-approved to government-approved…

Interesting article if you’re into any combination of China and foreign policy.

Mercenary Trader on the AUD/USD pair:

It might be time to get short the Australian dollar if you haven’t already.

Go have a read, not a bad analysis. I’m hesitant to bet against AUD and I suspect the tipping point is still months away. But, I’m shorting regardless (I have time).

What you get visiting Turntable.fm these days:

We’re very sorry, but while we would love to let you in and rock out with us, we need to currently restrict turntable access to only the United States due to licensing constraints.

This really sucks. You may remember how excited I was about Turntable.fm. It’s hard to watch music startups hit that music-industry-plus-internet roadblock.

Nat at Simple & Lovable on the first fatality-free holiday road toll:

As someone on the road who, just by being in a car has a chance (albeit a small one), of winding up a statistic, I appreciate their efforts.

Nice work five-O.

Via Bryce Edwards at Liberation, quoting Horizon:

Horizon Research shows 6.4% of New Zealanders 18+ do not have a landline telephone at home. This rises to 19.6% among 18 to 24 year-olds; 18.8% for those earning $100,000 to $200,000 a year and 12.5% for those earning less than $20,000 a year.

Basic findings; if you’re poor, young, or rich, you’re less likely to have a landline. This is only going to head in one direction. Expect more bias in polls.

Minimal Mac, on seeing the future:

Perhaps that is the most frustrating part to me. I see this future, and all the pieces to build it, sitting right there. We could have it, today, in every room in our house. Walk up to a screen and command it. Interact with the stuff you have there. Naturally. But, due to lack of vision, it’s not magic. It’s a game. As long as the blinders of the present and past remain, it will never be anything more.

How to find fault with with the company that produced the the fastest selling consumer electronics device in history. Flawless.

Gareth Morgan, opinion piece for Interest.co.nz:

We continue to live it up like we are right up there with the world’s richest. And of course you can only drink champagne on a beer budget by selling your assets or raising more debt.

We do both.

I really only see one way this is going to go for NZ. Yawn.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, on the promise of impending industrial action:

It will be the biggest since the general strike. It won’t be the miners’ strike. We are going to win.

Yeah, I’m filing that one away for the future.

War photographers, a Guardian feature, including João Silva:

I’d been in Afghanistan for a month when I stepped on the landmine. I was the third man in line, and as I put my foot down, I heard a metallic click and I was thrown in the air. I knew exactly what had happened.

…I knew my legs had gone, so I called my wife on the satellite phone and told her not to worry.

Imagine picking up that call.

Om Malik, for GigaOM:

Have you heard of Turntable.fm? If you haven’t, then let me tell you that it is cool, and might represent where the web is going.

Right now, I couldn’t agree more. Super simple, super addictive, and super social. The Lame / Awesome dial is especially awesome.

Madeleine Bunting, for the Guardian:

Just over 200 “core” staff at Barclays took home £554m last year, while thousands of shareholders, who had lent £51bn of equity capital, were left with £653m in dividends. This is an ongoing institutionalised bank raid.

Outrage at the banks is everywhere, so why aren’t there riots on the streets?

I watched Inside Job last week. You won’t regret watching it if you do, you might even get angry.

For me, that moment came watching The Power of Yes at the National Theatre a couple of years ago. I hope it gets another run, or gets made for TV. It was brilliant. Until then, be sure to watch Inside Job.