Brian Gongol
"You don't have to train machines"
As capital has become cheap relative to labor, companies are buying things like robots rather than hiring new workers. That's why the economy is growing but unemployment rates aren't falling. A Harvard economist says (rightly) that if what you do can be programmed into a machine (or written down like a program) then you're probably going to be unemployed soon.
Learning from the disaster in Joplin
Engineers and others are looking at the buildings that collapsed in the Joplin tornado, trying to figure out whether there are lessons to be learned to save lives in the future. It's not pleasant work, since people died where the observations will be taking place. But it's one of the most important things that can be done after a disaster. Human progress is made by observing failures and taking preventive action to keep them from recurring.
Google redesigns the user interface for Gmail and Google Calendar
The company is finding itself in an increasingly challenging cycle, trying to satisfy a fickle public that wants new stuff but doesn't always go along with change very easily
Mama robin says "hello" and "goodbye" to her babies
(Video)
Does Firefox update too frequently?
What's good for consumers and households -- an Internet browser that updates frequently, keeping up with security developments and new technological opportunities -- is bad for corporate users that don't want to have to test new software all the time. But that really just reveals the failure of the corporate-user environment, not a problem with the development of new browsers.
LulzSec hacker group claims it's disbanding
A macaque self-portrait
Nature photographer claims macaques in Indonesia heisted his camera, and one of them took a rather cheesy self-portrait
WHO Radio Wise Guys - July 2, 2011
Four segments, each available in MP3 format: Google Plus has gone live, MySpace has been sold, auto-tune is killing Western Civilization, and Verizon is about to start limiting data plans.
GoDaddy sells out to private-equity firms
