Rexfeng

An increasing number of pawn businesses catering to the wealthy offer fast liquidity in exchange for high-end luxury items.

Maker's has been made.

Osaka-based Suntory is acquiring American bourbon titan Beam Inc. in a deal worth some $16 billion in cash. In addition to the iconic Jim Beam and Maker's Mark, the company also owns Canadian Club, Courvoisier, Laphroaig Scotch, and Sauza tequila. The acquisition, which is expected to be complete by the end of June, will position Suntory as the third-largest premium-spirits supplier in the world, all of which is to say it's about time for Bill Murray to make some new liquor commercials. [Dealbook/NYT]

Read more posts by Hugh Merwin

Filed Under: top shelf, beam, canadian club, jim beam, maker's mark, sauza, suntory, yamazaki

It's been a long time coming, but the troubled SimCity is finally getting an offline mode. The game originally launched in March of last year to critical acclaim, but ongoing server problems meant that its always-online requirement made it largely unplayable for many gamers. Developer Maxis previously hinted that an offline mode was in the works back in October, and now it has finally confirmed the news.

"When we launch it, all of your previously downloaded content will be available to you anytime, anywhere, without the need for an internet connection," says Patrick Buechner, GM of Maxis' Emeryville studio. Unfortunately, there's still no hard date for when the update will be launched, with Buechner saying simply that "we look forward...

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Awesome Games Done Quick, a charity marathon of video game speedruns that donates money raised to the Prevent Cancer nonprofit group, concluded its weeklong streaming session yesterday on what you might call "a high note:" a $100,000 surge during the ...

Little Chef’s egg bowl.

In these juice-cleansed, kale-strewn, gluten-free times, “health food” has shrugged off its musty, bulk-aisle image and gone seriously slick. Part of the rebranding involves a change in terminology: Most purveyors prefer “whole food” or “real food,” phrases that evoke movement godhead Michael (“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”) Pollan rather than the cranky clerk at the health-food co-op. And the pantry has evolved as well, encompassing not only flax and quinoa but sustainably raised meats, eggs, and dairy—even dessert. You can identify members of this burgeoning category by their inspirational slogans, their glossy graphic design, their elaborate, multitiered waste-disposal stations, and especially their penchant for “bowls,” be they bean, grain, or açaí. This new style of cooking and eating downplays dieting; venerates local sourcing and seasonality; and can be found in such varying milieus as juice bars, salad bars, and even, in the case of Gowanus’s Pickle Shack, bar bars. Today’s version of health food is vegetable-centric but not necessarily vegetarian, fast-casual, quick-serve, and expansion-minded. Here, the newest practitioners

Creative Juice
Various locations creativejuiceco.com
Plant pusher: Danny Meyer, closet health-food addict and David Kirsch disciple. Consider this enterprise penance for Shake Shack.
Setup: Housed within Equinox gyms (but open to the public), designed for grab-and-go and assorted cleanses.
Meal plan: “Grain bowls” equipped with bison meatballs, pulled chicken, and carbs like freekeh and wheat berries ($9.95), and smoothies like the black-pepper-spiked cashew-and-banana Hot Date ($7.50), that, at 445 calories for a small, veers boldly into dessert territory.

Little Chef
At Gotham West Market, 600 Eleventh Ave., nr. 45th St.; 212-582-7944
Plant pusher: Caroline Fidanza of Williamsburg’s excellent sandwich shop Saltie.
Setup: Long, sparkling, black-marble-topped dining counter—the sleeper star of the new Hell’s Kitchen food court.
Meal plan: Like the devious mother who spikes her little tot’s ice cream with medicine, Fidanza serves healthy food without drawing attention to it. In addition to radicchio, frisée, celery, radishes, parsley, and Pecorino, there are crunchy batons of kohlrabi in the ever-changing antipasto salad ($12). The egg bowl comes fully loaded with roasted parsnips and delicata squash ($12). And neighbor Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop’s porky ramen has nothing on the prune-strewn cock-a-leekie soup ($13).

Dimes
143 Division St., at Canal St.; 212-240-9410
Plant pushers: Alissa Wagner and Sabrina De Sousa, who, between them, have what amounts to a Ph.D. in stylishly cool-and-healthy restaurant management, having studied at the Smile, Northern Spy, and Five Leaves.
Setup: Twenty-seat nook with an adobelike interior, an artsy-skateboarder clientele, and full-service breakfast and lunch; dinner launches this week.
Meal plan: Artfully arranged bowls of fruits, grains, and vegetables like the bean bowl (flageolets, roasted sweet potato, Brussels sprouts, wilted greens, pickled carrots, and kale-hazelnut pesto; $12). In the not overtly healthy category: a stellar pulled-chicken-mushroom-and Taleggio sandwich ($11), and a world-class egg-on-a-roll ($6.50).

Feel Food
496 Sixth Ave., nr. 12th St.; 212-229-2221
Plant pushers: Latin American expats Gaeleen Quinn and O Cafe’s Fernando Aciar, who’s worked with Argentine superchef Francis Mallmann.
Setup: Part retail shop, part juice bar, and part hot-and-cold-food canteen, with seating in the back.
Meal plan: Everything from the Cold Buster (an invigorating hot toddy of sorts minus the whiskey; $5.50) to the arroz con leche ($4.80) is great. But the star of the show is the “sprouted wrap”: a shrunken, unusually pliant dosa you can stuff with things like hummus and roasted eggplant ($8.75). It’s the antidote to the insipid wheat-flour tortilla wrap, the bane of all true sandwich lovers.

Pickle Shack
256 Fourth Ave., nr. Carroll St., Gowanus 347-763-2127
Plant pushers: Locavore pickler Shamus Jones of Brooklyn Brine and chef Neal Harden, who cooked at Maimonides of Brooklyn and Pure Food and Wine.
Setup: A vegetarian snack shop disguised as a craft-beer bar with
a thing for pickles and Dogfish Head brews.
Meal plan: Your shoulder angel recommends the Jacob’s cattle-bean soup with wheat berries ($10), the smoked-tofu bánh mì ($11), the grilled veggie burger ($13), and the house-cultured cashew “cheese” sandwich ($9)—all terrific. Shoulder devils steer you toward the fried Hop-Pickles ($6) and thrice-cooked fries ($4).

Sweetgreen
1164 Broadway, nr. 28th St.; 646-449-8884
Plant pushers: Three dudes who met at Georgetown University and bonded unashamedly over their inability to find a sprightly salad; they’ve gone on to open 22 locations.
Setup: Perky cafeteria-style service in a snazzy, ecofriendly mess hall that doubles as a performance space—in a word, a fast-casual salad chain with a soul.
Meal plan: Customize from a selection of shockingly fresh and pristine ingredients, or choose one of eight core salads, including a kale-chicken Caesar that will change the way you think about kale-chicken Caesars ($8.85).

Nourish Kitchen + Table
95 Greenwich Ave., nr. W. 12th St.; 212-242-6115
Plant pusher: Registered dietitian Marissa Lippert, whose mission is to prove that health and flavor aren’t mutually exclusive.
Setup: A sliver of a shop, with counter service and a smattering of seats.
Meal plan: A “meat and two”-type place, with mix-and-match combos of proteins, grains, and salads, many bearing a distinct Middle Eastern accent (lacquered roast chicken with date syrup and black garlic; brown basmati rice pilaf with cinnamon and fig). Of special note: the “Weekend Reviver” egg sandwich with pimento cheese ($10).

Ellary’s Greens
33 Carmine St., nr. Bleecker St.; 212-920-5072
Plant pusher: Leith Hill, an erstwhile social worker who envisioned this flagship as the prototype for an airport chain.
Setup: A cozy, serene restaurant with table service and a juice bar.
Meal plan: Small plates geared to carnivores and vegans alike, from the requisite kale salad, with hummus vinaigrette ($14), to a house-smoked-bacon BLT ($10). The chocolate mousse ($8) is raw and vegan, but you’d never know it.

Bombay Sandwich Co.
48 W. 27th St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 646-781-9756
Plant pushers: Shiv Puri and Shikha Jain, who turned their vegetarian-Indian Smorgasburg start-up into a brick-and-mortar takeout shop.
Setup: A narrow aisle with limited counter seating overlooking a public plaza—handy for outdoor dining come spring.
Meal Plan: More concerned with health and cross-cultural variety than with strict authenticity, the cooks stuff a ciabatta roll with chana masala ($8.50), sweeten an almond smoothie with jaggery ($5.75), and garnish legume-and-rice bowls with kale-and-walnut pesto and apple-and-garlic pickle ($10.25).

Mulberry & Vine
73 Warren St., nr. W. Broadway; 212-791-6300
Plant pushers: Tribeca moms Genevieve Lynch and Michelle Gauthier, who fell under the local, seasonal, vegetable-inclined thrall of Michael Pollan.
Setup: Light and bright, minimal and modern, with -cafeteria-style service plus wine and beer.
Meal plan: All options are called “sides,” whether hot or cold, and are sold in mix-and-match combos ($12 to $15). But beyond the carrot slaw and quinoa patties are ribstickers like a sweetish, saucy Korean braised beef, chicken enchiladas, and satisfying soups like creamless cream of broccoli.

Little Beet
135 W. 50th St., nr. Seventh Ave.; 212-459-2338
Plant pusher: Veteran chef Franklin Becker, late of Abe & Arthur’s and Capitale, who was diagnosed with diabetes as an adult.
Setup: A somewhat generic-looking midtown feeding station rusticated with wall planters, barn-wood finishes, and hand-scrawled aphorisms from the disparate likes of Alice Waters and Anthony Bourdain.
Meal plan: Carefully cooked “proteins” like farmed salmon and marinated tofu seared on a grill, then finished in the oven, plated with greens or grains like “air-fried” kale chips or toasted buckwheat with mushrooms and hazelnuts vaguely reminiscent of kasha varnishkes ($13 for a protein and two sides).

*This article originally appeared in the January 20, 2014 issue of New York Magazine.

Read more posts by Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

Filed Under: health food, bombay sandwich co, creative juice, dimes, ellary's greens, feel food, health, little beet, little chef, mulberry and vine, nourish kitchen and table, pickle shack, sweetgreen

Paul Thurrott:

Windows 8 is tanking harder than Microsoft is comfortable discussing in public, and the latest release, Windows 8.1, which is a substantial and free upgrade with major improvements over the original release, is in use on less than 25 million PCs at the moment. That’s a disaster, and Threshold needs to strike a better balance between meeting the needs of over a billion traditional PC users while enticing users to adopt this new Windows on new types of personal computing devices. In short, it needs to be everything that Windows 8 is not. […]

In some ways, the most interesting thing about Threshold is how it recasts Windows 8 as the next Vista. It’s an acknowledgment that what came before didn’t work, and didn’t resonate with customers. And though Microsoft will always be able to claim that Windows 9 wouldn’t have been possible without the important foundational work they had done first with Windows 8 — just as was the case with Windows 7 and Windows Vista — there’s no way to sugarcoat this. Windows 8 has set back Microsoft, and Windows, by years, and possibly for good.

Via StuffJournalistsLike twitter feed. Appears the sign is stolen so often that the Colorado Department of Transit settled on this.

Thanks, Ryan!

After a review, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said its lowest-level employees should try to take four weekend days off each month.

But what I really want now is a 6-inch iPhone and a big-ass kitchen iPad.

It’s been about a month and a half since I upgraded my iPad Mini to the new retina variety. Apple was also kind enough to loan me an iPad Air to re-test my theory that the iPad Mini is “the real iPad”. I’ve enjoyed using them both, and each has its highs and lows. The colors on the Air’s screen, for example, are noticeably more colorful. But a page of crisp text on the retina Mini is one of the most beautiful digital simulations I’ve ever seen.

The bottom line is that the Mini, not the Air, is still the ideal size for almost everything I want to use an iPad for. Being able to hold an iPad comfortably with one hand, or type easily with two thumbs, is still something the Mini offers best. Reading in bed in portrait mode is still much more comfortable on a Mini — less stretching to do. And even though the Air is impressively lighter than my long-gone iPad 3, the fear of a smashed nose from snoozing hasn’t gone away.

I splurged on an LTE Mini this time, and I wouldn’t want to go back to a wi-fi-only world. There’s a surprising difference between tethering to an iPhone and being able to pull out an iPad and be instantly connected, and it changes the way I use it. It’s now a viable device for iMessaging, when iMessage wants to work right. I’ve even re-thought a few of the apps I keep on my home screen. For instance, Google Maps, which I previously only really used on my phone, is now equally useful on a persistently connected iPad with GPS.

While I bought a Verizon iPad Mini, I’ve mostly used the T-Mobile SIM card I picked up in the store for $10, which comes with 200 MB of free data per month. I really like what T-Mobile’s newish CEO John Legere has been doing, and in many cases, its LTE network has actually been faster and more reliable than Verizon’s. Either way, it’s nice to have options. Verizon’s noticeable decline in superiority — along with bullshit charges like a $35 iPad “activation” fee to add it to my shared-data plan — is exactly why I’m considering switching everything to T-Mobile. Being able to sample T-Mobile’s network this way for free is brilliant.

But this exercise has also pushed me further down the line of rethinking my ideal device sizes. Carrying an iPhone, iPad Mini, iPad Air, and MacBook Air at the same time feels a little ridiculous. Ideally, I think I’d want just two: A bigger iPhone (5-6 inches?) that can take over many iPad duties and an even “airier” retina MacBook Air (13) that does double duty as a big-ass kitchen iPad. Without the touchscreen. Ok, still working on this.

Anyway, for now: Mini beats Air.

Previously: 300 Days With The iPad Mini

You hungry? Like really, really hungry? Well, have I got a meal for you.

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From Serious Eats: New York

[Photograph: Robyn Lee]

We were heartbroken to learn this week that the West 8th Street Gray's Papaya closed thanks to a $20,000 rent hike. To add insult to injury, the downtown branch of this New York icon is being replaced with an organic juice bar, which says pretty much everything you can say about New York's cutthroat real estate market. The original Upper West Side location remains intact, and owner Nicholas Gray is looking for new Papaya spots, but this closing irreversibly endangers the New York hot dog just that much more.

Here are our thoughts and memories about Gray's:

Jamie Feldmar: "I went to undergrad at NYU, and my freshman year dorm was just a few blocks away from Gray's West Village location. One night during the first week of freshman year, I was...shall we say..."not entirely sober" when I had the brilliant decision to wander over to Gray's to sate my raging munchies. Five bucks and two minutes later, I was in hog heaven, and for the remainder of that one magical year, I ate at Gray's at least once a week, sometimes even sober! I'm from Chicago, and Gray's were the first New York-style hotdogs that I truly ever loved, topped with just a bit of their soft, tangy onion goop. RIP, Gray's—you were always there when I needed you most.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt: Gray's Papaya is almost synonymous with New York for me. I grew up getting recession specials for lunch (at the time they were $1.45 for two hot dogs and a papaya drink) from the 110th street and broadway location before it shut down. By the time I graduate high school, the recession special was up to $1.95 and the "Polite New Yorker" button on my backpack was faded to the point that you could no longer read it.

At college, I missed the crisp snap of the slow-griddled natural casing Sabrett more than I missed my mom. Every trip I took home would be marked with a recession special as my first and last meal, though over the course of the ten years I spent in Boston, the price increased from $1.95 to a whopping $4.45. It was, and still is, one of the finest deals in town for a quick and satisfying meal.

I can only say that if word comes out that the final Gray's outpost on 72nd street is going to shut down, I'll personally be out on the street collecting donations to save this most New York of institutions. And dammit, now I want a hot dog.

[Photograph: Max Falkowitz]

Ed Levine: Back in 2006, I wrote a post contemplating a $210 lunch I was about to have at Per Se, and comparing it to the whopping 77 recession specials I could have had at Gray's for the same price. That's lunch every day for two and a half months! Someone at Per Se must have read the post, because part-way through my five-hour lunch, a waiter brought out a beautiful silver tray with a single grilled hot dog on a buttered homemade brioche hot dog bun along with nine little dishes of hot dog condiments, everything from freshly fried bacon bits to homemade relish to an excellent mustard.

I had Gray's for dinner just a couple nights ago, and even though the recession special is now $1.95, it's worth every penny.

Max Falkowitz: Truth be told, Chicago is where I first fell in love with hot dogs, not New York. But before all that, Gray's taught me a vital hot dog lesson: a great frank doesn't need any freaking ketchup. I'm firmly of the mindset that tubesteak appreciation can only begin once ketchup is out of the picture, and a perfectly snappy Gray's dog with a bit of sauerkraut is enough to make a hot dog lover out of anyone. Gray's Papaya is lunch when we can't afford anything more, salvation when our booze-licked bellies call out for comfort, a living museum to New York and New Yorkishness. For me it was a teacher, one I can't afford to forget.

[Photograph: Robyn Lee]

Niki Achitoff-Gray: I grew up a few blocks from the Gray's on 72nd and Broadway. I even enjoyed a period of (admittedly misguided) pride when I learned how to spell my last name, under a vague impression that I was somehow related to this iconic corner of New York culinary history, strangely never questioning what is papaya?

I passed Gray's by on a near-daily basis, tilting my nose up ever so slightly to bask in the mingling odors of meaty smoke and exhaust fumes. Over the years, it became a father-daughter tradition to swing by on Sunday afternoons for a couple of dogs and a piña colada, which we'd tote over to Central Park devour in the Sheep Meadow. Sometimes we'd order at the take-out window, leaving me secretly dismayed at the lost opportunity to stare, mesmerized, at the rows upon rows of hotdogs; the loud and crowded all caps signage; the bulk squirt jugs of mustard and ketchup and their satisfying plops. Leaning against a rock in the hot sun, I found a serenity in those sticky, condiment-smeared hands and the high-pitched whine of straws scraping along the bottom of those bulky styrofoam cups, searching plaintively for one last sip.

And then there was the first time I saw The Panic in Needle Park—Al Pacino's heroin-induced nods in the traffic island a stone's throw from that very corner—when the towering absence of Gray's threw me into a moment of existential unheimliche. Let's just say that I can't evoke an image of the Upper West Side without reflecting on the hot dogs that made it home.

Share Your Gray's Memories

Have a story of your own? Share it with us in the comments.

From Serious Eats: New York

View Shaun Hergatt's Lower Manhattan in a larger map.

After putting in his time at serious restaurants in luxury hotels for a number of years since moving to the U.S. over a decade ago, Shaun Hergatt opened SHO Shaun Hergatt in the Financial District in 2009—not a very good year to open a restaurant considering the economic recession. But the Australian-born chef still garnered accolades for his food and he did everything to make it work, including moving not far away. While SHO is no longer, Hergatt is now cooking for guests at his restaurant Juni, an intimate 50-seat restaurant in the Flatiron District. He still lives downtown for the convenience and all the train stops in his neighborhood. Here, Hergatt shares with Serious Eats some of his favorites in lower Manhattan.

Pizza: Sometimes I go to Adrienne's Pizza Bar. It feels like grandmother's stuff. They have this big square pizza. A lot of the times when I go there, I'll do half meat and vegetarian—I feel guilty if I eat too much meat. I also like Inatesso, which has a thin crust pizza. It's right across the street from Juni so it remains hot and crunchy. I get the margherita from there.

[Photograph: Robyn Lee]

Burger: Shake Shack. I get two Shake Shack burgers and a side lettuce. It's quick, easy, reliable, and you trust it. I don't think the actual meat is the best combo, but I like little burgers. When I eat those burgers, every bite tastes the same. It's not this big sloppy, greasy burger. I like to feed my dogs lettuce and give them a cup of water. I normally have one of the chocolate custards.

Bagel: I go to Zucker's Bagel in Tribeca. It's my favorite place for bagels in the entire city. The bagels are hot. They have a bunch of different types of lox. All the bagels are super light and they're always hot. They're always baked fresh. They're light and fluffy. You have a large variety of bagels, too. It's more intimate there.

Coffee: There's a place in Battery Park City associated with Hugh Jackman. It's called Laughing Man Coffee. I don't like the Tribeca one so much. It's a little bit of an Australian thing, but I always get a flat white. It's kind of like a café latte.

Bakery: Financier is a good place. There's one right in the heart of the Financial District. They have croque monsieur and all that good stuff.

[Photograph: Ed Levine]

Brunch: A place that's not bad for brunch is Locanda Verde. I go there sometimes. I like the little pastries on the counter. It's one of those places on a cozy corner.

[Photograph: Carey Jones]

Wine bar: Terroir is good to have a glass of wine. It's interesting. You can go in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts and no one cares. When I'm there I drink a lot of different wines. Because of the business I'm in, I'm always drinking with the sommelier. The more I try, the more I learn.

Take-out: I seem to order in from the same places because I seem to trust them. I always order a dried age rib eye from Harry's for take out. The thing is I think they cook it perfectly. It's really dry aged. I like how it's funky. I order it medium rare. I think the meat program is very good and it's in a steakhouse area. The fries are house-made.

Date night: Jungsik is a Korean place that has two Michelin stars. It was actually a very good place for a date. It's a refined place in the old Chanterelle space. I had a tasting menu, so I don't remember everything I had, but I'd go back.

Mathew Martoma, who is charged with carrying out one of the largest insider trading schemes ever, was expelled for creating a false transcript of his grades, a person briefed on the matter said on Thursday.

The number of Democrats and Republicans on the list was about even, with a median net worth of $1,008,767 for 2012, according to the analysis.

A shadow of its former self, The Simpsons gave up on smart comedy and snappy satire long ago. The crude pop culture gags and associations which took their place are usually awkward and a little bit desperate. Except for this one.

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From Serious Eats: New York

[Photographs: Niko Triantafillou]

Canele By Celine has been selling their delicious mini-canele and financiers at various New York markets for years. Now, they've opened a brick and mortar shop on the Upper East Side in the old Martine's Chocolate space. Though quite common in France, this is the first canele-only bakery in NYC. They're also the only bakery in the city that offers different flavors of canele, including savory options.

Canele are an eggy French pastry baked in special molds. They come with a caramelized, nearly burnt exterior and a soft, custardy interior traditionally with vanilla and rum. Canele By Celine offers 12 different flavors of sweet mini-canele, and they're all quite good. The entire line uses the same base recipe and meet good canele standards, including a fragrant aroma.

I personally prefer the dark chocolate, lemon, and gingerbread flavors, which are all nice change ups from the usual rum. The lemon balances the pastry's sweetness and the gingerbread adds a cake-like element that I enjoyed.

The savory canele is where things get really interesting. The Parmesan is my overall favorite of this group. It doesn't have a crust that snaps like a sweet canele, but the inside is moist and packs a sharp, cheesy flavor, like biting into a really good cheese stick. The Basil Pesto flavor with its dark green color is an intense expression of basil. Unlike the other savory canele, the Chorizo has a more fully baked interior and a very crisp, almost charred crust.

All this innovation comes at a premium, but I think the prices compare favorably to other fancy pastries. Canele pricing is as follows: Small sweet canele are 3 for $4.90, 6 for $9.80, 9 for 14.50, and 18 for 28.50; small savory canele are 3 for $5.90, 9 for $17.50, and 18 for $34.50. Large canele are $3.50.

About the author: Native New Yorker Niko Triantafillou is the founder of DessertBuzz.com his photographs of desserts and pastry chefs have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Dessert Professional Magazine. He is an unabashed foodie nerdling. Follow him on Twitter at @DessertBuzz.

Well, this sucks. After nearly a year, the 2013 action game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has come to PC, but it arrived with a dark passenger: It apparently won't work without an internet connection.

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As if there was any doubt, beloved hot dog institution Gray's Papaya was ousted from their Sixth Avenue digs because the landlord jacked up the god damn rent. Owner Nicholas Gray confirmed the sad truth to Fork in the Road, revealing the landlord "wanted to raise [the] rent to $50,000 from $30,000" for the coveted corner space. Despite its continual popularity, the 28-year-old outpost couldn't justify the big price jump and closed its doors. [ more › ]

You no longer need someone's email address to send them an email. At least, that will soon be the case if you're both a Gmail and Google+ user and have the right settings enabled. A new Gmail setting lets you choose whether you want people to be able to send an email to your Google+ profile — even if they don't have your email address in their contacts. The four options let you control whether any Google+ user, or just people in your circles or extended circles can email you. You can also disable the feature by selecting "no one." Even if you do let people send you emails through their Google+ connection, your actual email address won't be revealed unless you respond to the email. The change continues the company's push to integrate...

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This week marked the 20th anniversary of the MetroCard—but there won't be many more such milestones in its future. The MTA plans to supersede the MetroCard with a new form of "fare payment technology" starting in 2019. "[The MetroCard] was revolutionary for it's time," MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan told us. "It's time has come, and it's time to move on to the next innovation." [ more › ]

My friend Jonathan Wight tweeted last night:

Really wish @gruber had designated a file extension when he invented Markdown.

https://gist.github.com/schwa/8311179

Too many extensions.

Too late now, I suppose, but the only file extension I would endorse is “.markdown”, for the same reason offered by Hilton Lipschitz:

We no longer live in a 8.3 world, so we should be using the most descriptive file extensions. It’s sad that all our operating systems rely on this stupid convention instead of the better creator code or a metadata model, but great that they now support longer file extensions.

(I personally use “.text” for my own files, and have BBEdit set to use Markdown syntax coloring for that extension, which is why I never saw a need to endorse an official extension.)

The White House has just announced that the United States has extended its lease on the International Space Station through the 2024 fiscal year. This is great news for both NASA and science in general.

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Team Fortress 2's transition from first-person shooter to fabulous-person shooter has been subtle, thanks to the metric ton of stylish hats featured in Valve's game. If you've been champing at the bit in search of a graph detailing how frequently ...

California's running out of water. This year's record-breaking drought—coming after two already dry years—has the state scrambling for the liquid stuff. Plans to seed clouds for extra snowfall are already in place. But do we really require storm clouds for water? Why not use fog?

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Here you have it! The perfect mix of two of the most iconic culture objects in the history of mankind: Lego, perhaps the most popular toy in the world, and The Simpsons, perhaps the most popular TV series of all time. And it's only $199. We got a ton of high resolution official images and a video:

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A series of emails shows that aides to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey told officials to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge, in what appeared to be political retribution.

A reader sends in these deeply troubling photos of classic New York hot dog stand Gray's Papaya being disassembled, piece by piece. Our tipster notes: "Sad news as it appears the Gray's Papaya on Eighth Street and Sixth Avenue is dunzo. Walked by this afternoon and saw a demolition crew taking down the iconic neon sign and removing the fixtures inside."

An employee at the Upper West Side original confirmed that the Greenwich Village location had closed, although he was unsure if it was done for good, or just shuttered for a revamp. But it looks like this goose is cooked. Here are some more photos of the carnage:

This is a sad day for hot dog fans everywhere.

· All Coverage of Gray's Papaya [~ENY~]

Jessica Lessin:

Mr. Graham’s said that the reason for the interview was for a profile of his wife, which we published. That is true. But it is only half the story.

The on-the-record interview covered significantly more topics than we could include in the profile of Ms. Livingston. It was more than two hours. Given the unusual length and breadth of the interview, we decided to publish it as a story.

But we didn’t spring it on him. Quite the opposite. We notified Mr. Graham and his PR person and went the extra mile and refreshed their memory on some of the topics. No one expressed any objection.

The lesson: if you’re speaking to a journalist on-the-record, treat everything you say as part of a carefully considered interview — never a casual, off-the-cuff conversation. If you’re speaking off-the-cuff, make sure you emphasize the entire conversation is off-the-record before it starts. And be sure to clarify that both sides agree on what “off-the-record” means.

As criticism of Google's private shuttle bus service for employees living in San Francisco has reached new heights, the company quietly turned its eyes to the sea. CBS is reporting that Google has contracted a private catamaran called "The Triumphant" that ferries workers from San Francisco bay to Redwood City, California, about halfway to the company's global headquarters in Mountain View, California. Presumably, then Google employees hop out and take a bus the remaining 14 miles.

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