Copper Nikus writes "An article at the BBC makes a shocking claim about mosquitoes. It appears some individual insects in the wild have developed the ability to ignore the very popular DEET repellent after a first exposure. From the article: 'To investigate why this might be happening, the researchers attached electrodes to the insects' antenna. Dr Logan explained: "We were able to record the response of the receptors on the antenna to Deet, and what we found was the mosquitoes were no longer as sensitive to the chemical, so they weren't picking it up as well. "There is something about being exposed to the chemical that first time that changes their olfactory system - changes their sense of smell - and their ability to smell Deet, which makes it less effective."'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

singwordsthatholdnomeaning:

buttsnbongos:

i put my google’s safe search on strict just to see what would come up when i typed in doggy style and

AT DAWN WE RIDE

alternate-j:

walk into the club like watup im uncomfortable bye

These fantastic color plates of marine mollusks are from the 1833 scientific atlas, “Voyage De La Corvettte L’Astrolabe.” The five volume atlas documents the scientific expedition of French naval officer and naturalist Jules Dumont d’Urville, who circumnavigated the globe aboard the French exploration ship Astrolabe between 1826 and 1829. The plates were scanned by Paul K of BibliOdyssey.

(For the next several days, some of our writers will be swapping duties on some of our most popular shows. Some of them will like what they see, but for different reasons. Some of them will have vastly different opinions from the regular reviewers. And some of them won’t be all that different. It’s Second Opinions Week at TV Club.)

Here’s a seldom-acknowledged truth: Community has never been a strong starter. Its first season is a textbook example of a sitcom taking a few weeks to make good on a promising pilot; its second and third seasons, meanwhile, seemingly stalled out of the gate. Removed from the black cloud of behind-the-scenes drama hanging over “History 101” and “Paranormal Parentage,” “Has Community lost it?” makes for a familiar refrain. As Todd VanDerWerff pointed out last week, this is essentially a new show—but it’s a new show ...

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A lady as deadly as she was foxy, Lyudmila Pavlichenko killed 309 enemy soldiers for the Red Army during World War II, making her the most successful female sniper of all time. Upon voluntarily enlisting in the army, she declined to join as a nurse and instead requested to enlist as infantry, where despite being wounded in combat she eventually rose to the rank of Major. She was honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union and also received as a hero in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, where she met President Roosevelt and was gifted a Colt automatic pistol.

vintageblackglamour:

Melba Roy, NASA Mathmetician, at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland in 1964. Ms. Roy, a 1950 graduate of Howard University, led a group of NASA mathmeticians known as “computers” who tracked the Echo satellites. The first time I shared Ms. Roy on VBG, my friend Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a former postdoc in astrophysics at NASA, helpfully explained what Ms. Roy did in the comment section. I am sharing Chanda’s comment again here: “By the way, since I am a physicist, I might as well explain a little bit about what she did: when we launch satellites into orbit, there are a lot of things to keep track of. We have to ensure that gravitational pull from other bodies, such as other satellites, the moon, etc. don’t perturb and destabilize the orbit. These are extremely hard calculations to do even today, even with a machine-computer. So, what she did was extremely intense, difficult work. The goal of the work, in addition to ensuring satellites remained in a stable orbit, was to know where everything was at all times. So they had to be able to calculate with a high level of accuracy. Anyway, that’s the story behind orbital element timetables”. Photo: NASA/Corbis.

jpk815:

Viktoria Luise, Prinzessin von Pruessen

Viktoria Luise Adelheid Mathilde Charlotte Herzogin zu Braunschwieg und Luneberg von Preussen; 13 September 1892 – 11 December 1980) was the only daughter and the last child of Kaiser Wilhlem II and Kaiserin Augusta Viktoria.   Pictured as Oberst à la suite (Honorary Colonel), 2. Leib-Husaren Regiment Königin Victoria von Preußen Nr. 2, ca. 1909.  Kaiser’s daughter is a BAMF Princess.  Hard not to look hot in a busby with skull and bones wappen.

““Why we call it Pixel is because we don’t want users to have to deal with the Pixel,” Pacahi said.”

- Google Debuts Pixel, a Premium Touchscreen Chromebook | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

"People say 'girly cocktail' all the time," says Emma Hollander of Trina's Starlite Lounge. Usually, she says, they mean anything pink. But a drink's vessel can set off alarms as much as its color: "Sometimes I will pour a whiskey drink from the cocktail menu into a cocktail glass, and guys will be like 'Can I have a more manly glass?' " A more manly glass? What does that mean? A halved cannon ball? A goblet made from your enemy's skull?

New submitter Nyder writes "In a move that is sure to bring tears to the eyes of kids everywhere, Connecticut State Senator Toni Harp proposed a bill in January that would ban anyone younger than 18 from playing 'violent point-and-shoot' video games in arcades or other public establishments. 'The bill also called for research into the effects of violent video games on young minds, through a committee called the Violent Video Game Task Force within the Department of Children and Families. The task force would advise the Governor and General assembly on state programs that "may reduce the effects of violent video games on youth behavior," suggesting before the research was done that violent video games have an effect on children's actions.' Hopefully this won't pass; I guess the video game lobby hasn't paid this Senator enough 'funds' for her campaign."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This graffiti is all I need to see to decide I’d really like to visit Canada:

 

About once a year I try to write something about Sherry (or Jerez si vamos a hablar en Español) mainly because the crossover appeal between it and single malt is blatently obvious. Every year I write it and most people think, "Huh........Sherry, eh?" and that's about as far as it goes. I know plenty of Scotch drinkers who have made the transition to Bourbon, yet no one ever wants to learn more about the fortified wine that shapes their Macallan, Glenfarclas, Springbank, or Lagavulin whiskies. There are very few single malt producers that aren't using ex-Sherry barrels to mature their whisky, yet we seem to forget the huge influence these wine-soaked butts have over our beloved bottles. I get emails from customers all the time about how wonderful the Glendronach K&L single barrel they just purchased tasted. "How do they get all that rich, toffee-laden, fudgy flavor into that whisky?" they ask. "They must have really good distillers."

Distillers? No. Really good Sherry barrels? Yes.

Because that's what you're tasting when you taste our new Glendronach 19 year old Oloroso cask. You're tasting sherry. 95% of that whisky's flavor comes from the Oloroso. The other 5% is the alcohol and the eau de vie. If you should ever visit Glendronach distillery, that's where the majority of your visit will take place: in the barrel room. They're firm believers in the idea that most of whiskymaking takes place after distillation. They'll talk your ear off about cooperage and the influence that Jerez has over their malt. Yet, Scotch drinkers in search of something different still look to rum or Bourbon due to their "similar" flavor profiles. Not that you shouldn't enjoy rum or Bourbon. They're fantastic spirits. I just don't get why more people aren't interested in Sherry, considering that for those producers using Sherry wood, it is far and away the number one influence on their single malt whisky's ultimate flavor.

And it's delicious to drink on its own!!!!!!

Besides the deliciousness of its character, the relatively reasonable price tags, the fact that you can open a bottle and have it last for months, and the complexity of its different flavor profiles, there is one standout reason why Sherry is ripe for hipster exploitation: no other wine, beer, or spirit offers the potential for so much geekery. I mean, isn't that what hipster culture is about? Taking something completely phased out from our past and ressurecting it once again as the measurement of coolness? Turntables, beards, and carpentry! No other alcoholic beverage is as antiquated and associated with old people as Sherry. If you want to know more about something than someone else, Sherry is your key to pedantic bliss. All of us at the Redwood City store just purchased the book Sherry, Manzanilla, & Montilla in an attempt to increase our own collective knowledge. We're all committing to this movement.

Sherry is so complicated to produce and comes in so many different manifestations that it would take years to truly understand it. It can be briny and austere, yeasty and funky, nutty yet dry, nutty but sweet, raisined and chewy, chocolatey and earthy, and any other combination of these flavors already mentioned. You can serve it chilled as an aperitif with hard cheeses and nuts, or sip it after dinner like you would a glass of single malt. It combines viticulture, soil, winemaking, distillation, barrel-aging, and most importantly: flor.

What is flor you ask? It is to Sherry as peat is to whisky and as bret is to beer or cider, in that it offers a unique complexity of flavor that can take some getting used to. Flor is a veil of Saccharomyces yeast cells, which multiply and form a layer of film that covers the wine as it ages in barrel. The barrier on the surface prevents total oxidation by limiting the wine's contact with oxygen (flor also needs oxygen to survive, so what little leaks into the wine is immedately consumed by the yeast). Sometimes these layers can be very thin, other times extremely thick – how thick will affect their influence over the wine. Geography, temperature, and cellar conditions have everything to do with a flor's nature (bringing serious terroir to Sherrytown). The flor also consumes what sugar is left in the wine, which results in some seriously bone-dry fino and manzanilla sherries. Flor layers can last for years and they age with the sherry in the oak barrel. As yeast cells die off from the flor, they drop to the bottom of the wine where they become part of the lees, the dead yeast cells that bring a rich, savory note to many Sherry and Champagne wines. Those aging closer to the sea have different flors than those more inland and can be salty and briny much like Islay whiskies.

Then there's the barrel maturation. Jerez uses American oak and European oak. They use barriques and they use giant butts. Some wines are aged purely in a single barrel, others are added to a solera system that continuously marries younger wines with older ones to keep a consistent flavor (like marrying whiskies together in the Ardbeg Uigeadail). There are a few Sherry selections at K&L that have wines dating back to the 1800s floating around within them. What about distillation, too? Sherry uses brandy to fortify its wines and prevent them from oxidizing too quickly after the bottles are opened. It's crazy to think about all of these different facets.

So here we are. Another year is upon us. Another post about Sherry that will find its way into your RSS feed, but will likely be skimmed over and forgotten as fast as the other non-whisky-related pieces. However, for anyone who truly wants to understand single malt whisky, you can't do so without understanding Sherry. You can know everything about every distillery in Scotland – their barley sources, their fermentation times, their still size, and their cooperage program – but you won't understand why their whiskies taste the way they do unless you understand what Sherry is. If you're drinking Laphroaig 10, or any other Bourbon barrel-aged whisky, then you're exempt. However, there are few distilleries who don't use some Sherry as part of their ultimate formula. Springbank 15? Bowmore 15? Glenlivet 15? Queue the Frankie Valli hit!

Maybe it's time to give Sherry another look. Come to Redwood City and talk to our Sherry buyer Joe Manekin (any advice I give you will just be a repeat of what he tells me). I'll try and post some of my favorites, but I have to check our inventory first.

-David Driscoll

Sometimes it is hard to be equable when people make ridiculous comments. For the most part I succeed until someone writes, “My grandfather kept healthy bees for 50 years. If that method worked for him, it will work for me.” Great. Fine. So why are you asking me how to fix your problem? Based on [...]

Jon Millward doesn’t just look at pornography, he’s spent 6 months piecing together stats and numbers looking for trends to complete his fascinating infographic titled ‘Deep Inside: A Study Of 10,000 Porn Stars And Their Careers”

In doing so he’s revealed some startling & measured insights into an industry solely focused on the short-term needs and desires of its customers.

What does the average porn actress look like? Which States do they come from? What’s a typical pseudonym they might use? What time of acts are they comfortable doing? What type of role play are they most likely to adopt? How has their role in pornography altered over time?

All that and more is revealed in his infographic below oh and don’t worry it’s safe for work too. You can read his extensive and fascinating look at the adult film industry as well as lots of others thoughtful & in-depth analysis right here or via his personal Twitter account.

Enjoy and do let us know if you’re surprised by what you see…

ENJOYED IT? SHARE IT!

At a certain point I might as well admit that we drink a rather obscene amount of coffee. It’s almost all frugal, brew-at-home type coffee, but still: that stuff ads up.

Luckily, the grounds are almost as valuable as the liquid coffee, and we save them for use in the garden, thereby getting the most bang for our fair-trade-coffee-buck.

These are my five favorite ways to use coffee grounds in the garden.

Sheet Mulch

The majority of our grounds get dumped out, directly on the soil, as sheet mulch around around our berries and fruit trees. The common assumption is that coffee grounds are acidic, but tests on the pH of grounds have shown results from mildly acid to mildly alkaline, and research indicates that the pH of the grounds tends towards neutral as it decomposes. I use coffee grounds as a mulch around blueberries, fruit trees, currants and cane fruit, all with good result.

When you mulch with coffee grounds, don’t pile it on. That’s a sure-fire way to get moldy mulch. A good half-inch thick layer atop your normal organic mulch in any one spot will do nicely. It will break down relatively quickly as worms and soil microbes go to work, and when it does you can add more. Coffee works like any other organic mulch, with a few added advantages discussed below.

Side-dressing for Heavy Feeders

You probably know that the main nitrogen component in DIY organic fertilizers, like Steve Solomon’s famous mix, is seedmeal. Well, if you think about it, a coffee bean is a processed seed. As you’d expect, coffee grounds are high in nitrogen, at about 10%. Depending on the exact beans and extraction process, “the carbon to nitrogen ratio of coffee grounds can be as low as 11:1, an ideal ratio for plant and soil nutrition,” according to WSU extension.

With nitrogen levels like that, pure coffee grounds make an excellent side-dressing for leafy greens and hungry fruiting veg, like tomatoes and squash, early in their growth. I particularly like side dressing spinach with used coffee grounds.

Natural Slug Deterrent

Slugs get the heebie-jeebies crawling over coffee grounds. I think it scratches their slimy underbellies in an unpleasant way. Do you have some veg, like Napa Cabbage, that seems like a total slug magnet? Try banding coffee grounds in a uniform circle around the plant as a seedling, and keep the band topped up. It helps. I’m not giving away my Sluggo just yet, but it helps.

Vermicomposting

I know some people say that you shouldn’t feed worms coffee grounds, but I have Seattle worms. They’re all holding teeny Starbucks cups and wearing fleece vests as they crawl around their worm bin, talking about Python hacks and when they’ll finally be able to get up to the mountains to go snowboarding.

Coffee grounds aren’t the only thing I put in my worm bin, of course, but mixed in as part of a balanced diet of cardboard, shredded paper, kitchen scraps, banana peels and the like, the worms seem to process coffee grounds without any issue.

Suppression of Fungal Diseases

Decomposing coffee grounds have their own fungal and mold colonies and those fungal colonies tend to fight off other fungal colonies. If this seems weird, just remember that the antibiotic penicillin was developed from a mold. The world of teeny, tiny things is fighting for space and resources just as fiercely as the world of big, visible things, and you can use that to your advantage.

The natural mold and fungus colonies on coffee “appear to suppress some common fungal rots and wilts, including Fusarium, Pythium, and Sclerotinia species,” according to research. It’s hard to quantify exactly how this all plays out in the big outside world with millions of variables, but incorporating coffee grounds into your compost may help to prevent build-up of nasty verticulum and fusarium wilt inoculates. I figure it’s worth a shot. If I have coffee grounds on hand, I will throw a handful of grounds into the transplant hole for tomatoes, peppers or eggplant, since these plants tend to be susceptable to various wilts.

How do you use coffee grounds in your garden?

[Dominic] decided to take control of his cloud storage by switching to OwnCloud. Unlike most cloud storage solutions, this isn’t a company offering you free space. It’s an open source software package which your run on your own machine. [Dom] didn’t want to leave his box running 24/7 as it would be unused the majority of the time. So he hacked this router to switch on the computer whenever he tries to access the storage.

Obviously this is a Wake-On-Lan type of situation, but the hardware he has chosen to use doesn’t include those features. Since he already had this TP-Link 703n on hand he decided to use it as a controller for the computer. His method is quite clever. The router is running a script that monitors the computer and the bandwidth it’s using. When traffic from the network stops, the router will issue a shutdown command within just a few minutes. It then assigns itself the computer’s IP address so that it can listen for incoming requests and use the relay on that breadboard to turn the box back on. Obviously running the embedded system is much more efficient than having an entire computer turned on all the time, and it’s WiFi capabilities mean no cords to run to the home network.

Filed under: Network Hacks

Although an inevitable, yet troublingly steady decline in ratings following its record-setting debut suggested The Americans might be headed for a Soviet Union-like collapse, to be dissolved into a commonwealth of independent state-shows where Matthew Rhys’ show has to beg for grain from Keri Russell’s show, FX has instead granted the spy drama a second season. In a press release announcing the renewal, the network acknowledges the show’s ratings decline, but also factors in DVR stats to declare The Americans to have the highest time-shifted viewing numbers of any freshman series in its history—embracing a more inclusive, socialist doctrine that rejects the capitalist lapdog’s insistence on kowtowing to Nielsen. (And, of course, critical support doesn’t hurt.) The renewal means that The Americans can now go on to dramatize arguably the most important event in 1980s U.S.-Soviet relations: Billy Joel’s historic concerts in ...

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whatps2:

aww shit get it Wednesday

littlesparkvt writes in with news about the possibility of a privately funded Mars mission. "Millionaire Dennis Tito became the first paying customer to make a trip to the International Space Station and now he wants to launch a privately funded mission to Mars in 2018. Dennis paid a reported 20 Million to ride aboard a Russian rocket to the International Space Station and has since stayed out of the spotlight, until now. There’s no word whether the trip will include humans, there will be more information on that fact next week. Considering there is little time to train a crew for the mission the flight in 2018 will most likely be an unmanned probe. There’s also a possibility that the first mission to Mars from this private investor will harbor supplies for future astronauts. Plants and food are a possibility as they would take much less space than a full human crew."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Slate recently ran an article titled “The Recline and Fall of Western Civilization,” a piece that talks about the evils of reclining your seat on an airplane. In it, they mention the Knee Defender, a set of pocket-sized jamming devices that snap onto your open tray table and prevent the seat in front of you from reclining fully. The Knee Defender site quotes The Washington Post as reporting, “FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto said the clips were not against federal aviation rules as long as they weren’t used during taxiing, takeoffs or landings.” These set of clips are available to purchase at Gadget Duck, the company who invented them in 2003.

What should I do if the person in front of me complains because I am using Knee Defender?

If you are using Knee Defender to protect your knees from being banged by the person’s seatback, then simply let the person know that there really is not enough room for him/her to recline the seat without knocking into and/or compressing part of your body.

If you are using Knee Defender simply to provide you with a warning that the person in front of you wants to recline his/her seat – so that, for example, you can close your notebook computer to protect its screen – then ask the person for a moment, move your computer and remove your Knee Defender, and then let the person know that it is OK to recline.

Consequence Of Sound did God’s work at this year’s SF Sketchfest when it put John Vanderslice and the members of Stella—David Wain, Michael Ian Black, and Michael Showalter—in a room together to fart around and talk over each other. While Vanderslice asked the ex-State trio for advice, Consequence kept the cameras rolling. Watch the video below and learn the best way to dispose of a body in 2013, the ethics of stealing and living off your neighbor’s genital fluids, and how to tell if that Shaquille O’Neal double dong dildo is licensed or not.

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Adapting the ongoing, Christ-like persecution of Chris Brown into the modern version of a passion play, Law & Order: SVU has unveiled a promo for its upcoming episode “Funny Valentine”—one of the show’s signature, ripped-from-the-headlines-of-several-years-ago plots about a singer who’s brutally beaten by her hip-hop star boyfriend, yet remains inexplicably drawn to him. As the preview says, it’s a “familiar story,” albeit with slight differences that keep it from being libelous: For one thing, the name of the rap star who insists he’s a “lover, not a fighter” while assaulting his girlfriend is  “Caleb,” so automatically it’s different and there’s no reason to sue. For another, the episode features the “Law & Order twist” of having its totally-not-Chris-Brown proxy die (rather than the other Law & Order twist of someone getting raped), and therefore it is not explicitly Chris Brown, because Chris Brown is alive. (SORRY ...

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Somehow, Soundcloud user TDRloid managed to figure out that two completely opposite songs—The Little Mermaid’s “Under The Sea” and Bubba Sparxxx’s “Ms. New Booty” (Ft. Ying Yang Twins)—go together like freshly drawn butter and delicious, delicious singing Caribbean crab. The result, “Under The Booty,” might seem like a weird combination in theory, but listen once and be convinced. After all, all parties involved know that it’s better down where it’s wetter. [via Buzzfeed]

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Friends Of Tom, Twitter pals, and recent tourmates Aimee Mann and Ted Leo have formed a band together. The duo is calling itself #BOTH, and it's already written at least a few songs. Though there’s no information yet about what those songs sound like, or whether there will ultimately be recorded evidence of said songs, it has been confirmed that Mann is playing bass on at least one of them. So, that’s something.

#BOTH also has four shows already scheduled in the spring—two at Largo in Los Angeles March 8-9, and two at Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco, March 26-27.

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By Michael McWhertor on Feb 21, 2013 at 4:30p

Kenji Eno, musician and video game designer best known for his work on Enemy Zero, the D series and Real Sound: Kaze no Regret, died on Feb. 20 in Japan. He was 42.

Eno's death was reported by the Asahi Shimbun and confirmed in a statement from developer Fyto, where Eno designed WiiWare game You, Me and the Cubes. Cause of death was attributed to heart failure brought on by hypertension, according to an official statement.

Born May 5, 1970, Eno's game development career began on the Famicom, contributing music and planning to games based on Ultraman and Gundam for publisher Interlink. Through his own company, EIM, Eno designed and created music for NES games Panic Restaurant and Casino Kid 2.

Drawn back to game development by the advent of consoles with CD-ROM drives, Eno established Warp Inc., the studio behind horror adventure games D, D2 and Enemy Zero, the latter a punishingly difficult game that featured invisible enemies.

At Warp, Eno also created Real Sound, a mystery adventure game inspired by visually impaired players that had no graphics. Originally for Sega Saturn, Real Sound was later re-released for Dreamcast, adding photographs from Eno as complementary visuals.

Warp's games often included unusual pack-in items, like condoms or seeds, that reflected Eno's eccentricity. He told 1UP in an extensive 2008 interview that he hand-numbered all 10,000 copies of 3DO mini-game collection Short Warp and once flew to the U.S. to hand in a gold master of the game D, secretly submitting an uncensored version of the game to sneak graphically violent scenes through the approval process.

Eno later went on to serve as creative producer of Superwarp, which focused its efforts on networking and music technology, and president of Fyto (From Yellow To Orange), which released You, Me and the Cubes in 2009.

On Fyto's web site, Kenji Eno's bio described him as "The lucky adventurer who freely strides the digital world. In reality, an individual with a super analog mind — recently very emotional and sentimental."

• Source
• Fyto
• 1UP
• Asahi Shimbun

“Big Night for Mini Abe” is a funny short by the Illinois Office of Tourism that follows a miniature toy Abraham Lincoln getting buff and ready for the 2013 Oscars. “Mini Abe” will be live tweeting during the Academy Awards on Sunday, February 24, 2013.

If you’ve ever wondered what the days leading up to Hollywood’s biggest night are like for a former president (and who hasn’t?), you can stop wondering. See Abe like you’ve never seen him before. (Unless you collect articulated presidential action figures.)

For the latest episode of the celebrity web interview series “Geeking Out” on Official Comedy, the show’s host Kerri Doherty talks with Kyle MacLachlan about Portlandia, Twin Peaks, and then asks him to try her special Pop Rocks wine, “Kerri’s Awesome Shiraz Matazz.” At the end of the interview, he accepts a back scratch from Kerri, which he then reciprocates.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Google just unveiled the fanciest new laptop in its lineup of Chromebooks, the Chromebook Pixel. It looks not unlike Apple’s MacBook Pro—with its all-aluminum exterior and high-resolution glass screen—and costs about the same, starting at $1299. It also has a touchscreen.

Chromebooks run a very simple operating system, Chrome OS. Unlike on Windows or Mac OS, with their profusion of expensive and memory-hogging software, the only tool here is a web browser, through which you do all your work using web-based software, with all your files stored in the cloud. In this sense, the Pixel is no different from earlier Chromebooks made by generic PC manufacturers including Samsung, Acer and now HP. All of them were fairly low-end, however; the sort of thing you might buy to replace that spare computer you use at home for email and recipes, but not something you’d seriously rely on.

The Chromebook Pixel has the highest-resolution screen of any laptop on the market. Google

The Pixel changes all that. It is, transparently, Google’s attempt to offer, and even beat, what you find in a high-end PC or Mac. It has a processor as fast as any of them; a screen resolution, of 2560 by 1700 pixels, to match the Macbook’s “Retina” display; and a touchscreen that responds like a tablet, something very few laptops (and certainly no Macs) have. But it does this in a package that has the advantage of being totally fused to the cloud: All your files, all your programs, living on Google’s servers, where they never need backing up or updating, and always available on any device you might own, whether it’s a phone, tablet or laptop. In short, it aims to be the hub of your digital life.

For the past month I’ve been testing the wimpiest Google Chromebook on the market, a relatively thin and light notebook made by Samsung. Even that has been a marvel of usability. Google’s attitude to Chromebooks is clearly that they are for getting things done. Sure, maybe you can’t edit video on them or render high-end graphics, but most of us simply don’t need that. We’re already living in our web browsers most of the time anyway, and whatever loyalty we still have toward desktop applications is, Google clearly believes, a consequence of old habits dying hard.

Moreover, Chromebook choices are proliferating at just the moment when Windows users are bewildered and upset by the complexity and just plain newness of Windows 8. Gabe Newell, a former Microsoft employee and current head of video game software company Valve, memorably called Windows 8 “this giant sadness.”

The Pixel comes with 1 terabyte of cloud storage, free for three years. That’s more than the built-in hard drives on many PCs. Google’s goal is clearly that once everything a person has—all those photos, home movies, documents, etc.—are absorbed by its cloud, they will never return to the desktop world of Windows or Mac again. Chrome OS has always been a rebuke to the bloated, machine-centric software of these systems, and the Pixel is in a sense the real coming-out party for that philosophy.

It doesn’t even matter if it doesn’t sell. Google doesn’t make its money on software (like Microsoft) or hardware (like Apple). It just wants  access to all your information. And it can afford to wait, through successive generations of Pixels, for users to come into its arms.