When mom goes viral. I’ve been waiting for my mom to go viral. She’s more tech savvy than many moms: She’s on Facebook, she knows how to text and she’s LOL funny - sometimes intentionally and other times quite unintentionally. [Case in point: Prior to her iPhone, she had a flip phone that she was constantly breaking. When she was visiting Seattle and bought a gift for me, I received this amazing text.] Unfortunately my mom has yet to go viral. But Marilyn Hagerty, an 85 year old mom and newspaper category has become almost an overnight viral sensation. See what her son has to say about her celebrity and be sure to read her Olive Garden review, which started everything. [PS, Mom, I still think you’re way cooler than Marilyn Hagerty!] High-res

When mom goes viral.

I’ve been waiting for my mom to go viral. She’s more tech savvy than many moms: She’s on Facebook, she knows how to text and she’s LOL funny - sometimes intentionally and other times quite unintentionally. [Case in point: Prior to her iPhone, she had a flip phone that she was constantly breaking. When she was visiting Seattle and bought a gift for me, I received this amazing text.] Unfortunately my mom has yet to go viral. But Marilyn Hagerty, an 85 year old mom and newspaper category has become almost an overnight viral sensation. See what her son has to say about her celebrity and be sure to read her Olive Garden review, which started everything. [PS, Mom, I still think you’re way cooler than Marilyn Hagerty!]

Source The Wall Street Journal

The man who broke Atlantic City. Prediction: If you love Vegas, gambling, the movie 21 or the book it was based on, Bringing Down the House, you will love this article about Don Johnson, who won nearly $6MM playing blackjack in only one night. (And that was shortly after winning $5MM at Borgata and $4MM at Caesars.) High-res

The man who broke Atlantic City.

Prediction: If you love Vegas, gambling, the movie 21 or the book it was based on, Bringing Down the House, you will love this article about Don Johnson, who won nearly $6MM playing blackjack in only one night. (And that was shortly after winning $5MM at Borgata and $4MM at Caesars.)

Source The Atlantic

A Patent Lie: How Yahoo Weaponized My Work

When Yahoo first helped Andy Baio file his patents, he never knew they would be used to crush another person’s creativity, or so he says. While a friend of mine in patent law says that thinking is a bit naive, I’m confused how software patents still exist. As Baio says, “Software patents should be abolished, plain and simple, Software is already covered by copywriting, making patent protection unnecessary.”

Hipster Branding: It’s real, kind of. I have no clue who’s behind hipsterbranding.tumblr.com, but whoever they are, they’re doing a damn good job of (as they put it) “holding up a mirror to the artsy community.” I’m intrigued and slightly obsessed with these newly designed logos, almost all of which (I think) are better than the brands’ real logos ;)

Hipster BrandingReblogged from Hipster Branding

Hipster Branding: It’s real, kind of.

I have no clue who’s behind hipsterbranding.tumblr.com, but whoever they are, they’re doing a damn good job of (as they put it) “holding up a mirror to the artsy community.” I’m intrigued and slightly obsessed with these newly designed logos, almost all of which (I think) are better than the brands’ real logos ;)

Introducing the (iPhone) wallet killer. 

Geode is an iPhone case which, accompanied by an app, turns your credit cards into a single card - which can only be accessed by scanning your fingerprint using the iPhone case. (Goodness me the future is awesome!) Head on over to their Kickstarter page to learn more or to secure yours (for only $159!)

Source kickstarter.com

A code of conduct for content aggregators.   While sites like The Huffington Post have always been criticized for their style of aggregation, Simon Dumenco decided to do something about it and has formed the Council on Ethical Blogging and Aggregation - And already has big names like Esquire, The Atlantic and New York Magazine signed on. While sometimes one link leads to another and another and content is discovered through rabbit holes, Maria Popova (aka the author of Brainpickings) suggests that many have stopped giving credit where credit is due. Thanks to Reb for sharing this with me!

A code of conduct for content aggregators.  

While sites like The Huffington Post have always been criticized for their style of aggregation, Simon Dumenco decided to do something about it and has formed the Council on Ethical Blogging and Aggregation - And already has big names like Esquire, The Atlantic and New York Magazine signed on. While sometimes one link leads to another and another and content is discovered through rabbit holes, Maria Popova (aka the author of Brainpickings) suggests that many have stopped giving credit where credit is due. Thanks to Reb for sharing this with me!

Source The New York Times

NPR retracts their Foxconn report with Mr. Daisey

Before this week’s links, I wanted to make sure to share this Wired article on This American Life’s retraction of their Foxconn report, which I shared on a previous Tuesday Ten. While NPR did their best to fact check, Mr. Daisey (the man who was interviewed) said:

I stand by my work. My show is a theatrical piece whose goal is to create a human connection between our gorgeous devices and the brutal circumstances from which they emerge. It uses a combination of fact, memoir, and dramatic license to tell its story, and I believe it does so with integrity. Certainly, the comprehensive investigations undertaken by The New York Timesand a number of labor rights groups to document conditions in electronics manufacturing would seem to bear this out.

What I do is not journalism. The tools of the theater are not the same as the tools of journalism. For this reason, I regret that I allowed THIS AMERICAN LIFE to air an excerpt from my monologue. THIS AMERICAN LIFE is essentially a journalistic ­— not a theatrical ­— enterprise, and as such it operates under a different set of rules and expectations. But this is my only regret. I am proud that my work seems to have sparked a growing storm of attention and concern over the often appalling conditions under which many of the high-tech products we love so much are assembled in China.

Quite a few critics are appalled while others are saying that a few lies shouldn’t distort the broader picture of what’s happening in China. What do you think?