Dan Jones

Yoree Koh, reporting for the WSJ:

One of Twitter’s most beloved features is set to change: The company is planning to extend its 140-character limit to as many as 10,000, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In a tweet on Tuesday after the news spilled out, co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted a screenshot of text — 1,317 characters with spaces — explaining his thinking behind the expansion. “We’ve spent a lot of time observing what people are doing on Twitter, and we see them taking screenshots of text and tweeting it,” Mr. Dorsey wrote. “Instead, what if that text… was actually text? Text that could be searched. Text that could be highlighted. That’s more utility and power.” Despite the change, Mr. Dorsey said Twitter will “never lose that feeling” of speed, creativity and brevity.

This sounds like what I’ve been hoping they’d do: treat longer-than-140-character posts as an attachment type, like quoted tweets, images, etc.

Jordan Hanzon made an edit of Inside Out showing only the "outside" parts of the film...so, none of the stuff with Joy, Sadness, Anger, etc. I bet Pixar had an internal cut like this just to make sure the outside stuff hung together independent of the inside. (via devour¹)

1. I love Devour. They find great videos and curate their selection well. But they never credit their sources. More than a dozen times in recent months, I'll post a video to kottke.org and it'll show up on Devour within 30 minutes or so. (How do I know they're taking from me and not the place I originally found them? Because I often don't post stuff right away because of my scheduling, pacing, etc.) Anyway, it's not just me...they take stuff from Colossal and other places as well. It sucks. I've complained to them on Twitter and nothing changed. For the past few months, I've been using a tit-for-tat approach and not crediting Devour for finding a video on their site. Since it's the new year, I'm giving them another chance. Come on, Devour, stop being a leech and credit your sources!↩

If you find yourself having to catch up on sleep on your lunch break or during a bus ride, Los Angeles-based designer Josh Woodle may be able to improve your life with his new “Hypnos Hoodie”. The garment looks like a conventional hoodie, except the hood itself inflates to form “a perfectly ergonomic pillow”.

The hoodie is available in three colors and features an oversized design that conceals the pillow without being bulky. The pillow also inflates in just three seconds to maximize your nap time efficiency.

The Hypnos Hoodie is currently a fully funded Kickstarter campaign, but there is still time to nab one for a minimum pledge of $49.

(via DesignTaxi)

It's no Bird's Nest Bed, but I would 100% take a Kodama Zome over a Lotus Belle Tent on account of the fact that it is 100 times less likely to make someone say my least favorite word of the decade: "glamping." The geodesic Zomes are all hand built in Oregon from domestically sourced materials including metal, high-strength polyester webbing, and wood. Their designs stem from the widespread patterns and proportions exhibited in nature (e.g., pinecones and sunflowers) as well as manmade art (e.g., paintings and architecture) and the company hopes anyone who buys a Kodama Zome will take advantage of its similarly widespread areas of use.

The hanging beds' hardware connectors are marine grade stainless steel and steel alloy metal support rings, so they remain strong and resistant to corrosion even when positioned on a beach in the middle of the surf for a crazy bendy and balance-on-your-head yoga session. Kodama Zomes are as comfortable in a backyard, forest, or poolside as they are in your bedroom or sweet industrial loft condo that I can't afford. Hang them from a tree limb, roof supports, or cables strung between the two, or add one of the KZ's free-standing danglers onto your order for setup in any open space.

Kodama Zome webbing supports a 4" custom-fit foam mattress and cushions, all covered in Sunbrella outdoor fabric. The beds are structurally engineered using 3D computer modeling, and have a minimum load-bearing capacity of 600 pounds. The original, standard-size Kodama Zome, The Pod, is built to hold 1 to 3 people.

A Somalian terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaeda is using footage of Donald Trump in a new recruitment video, CBS News reported.

The 51-minute video, posted online by al-Shabab on Friday, reportedly shows footage of Trump supporting “a total and complete shutdown” on immigration into the US by Muslims.

The clip is bookended by remarks from Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda official who was killed in Yemen during a US airstrike in 2011, saying that the US would become “a land of religious discrimination and concentration camps” and that “the West will eventually turn against its Muslim citizens.”

I can’t believe that Trump’s hate-filled rhetoric could actually fuel more hate!

Beer Mittens – Keep your hands warm and your beer cold

Twenty years ago this month, RFC 1883 was published: Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification. So what's an Internet Protocol, and what's wrong with the previous five versions? And if version 6 is so great, why has it only been adopted by half a percent of the Internet's users each year over the past two decades?

10 percent!

First the good news. According to Google's statistics, on December 26, the world reached 9.98 percent IPv6 deployment, up from just under 6 percent a year earlier. Google measures IPv6 deployment by having a small fraction of their users execute a Javascript program that tests whether the computer in question can load URLs over IPv6. During weekends, a tenth of Google's users are able to do this, but during weekdays it's less than 8 percent. Apparently more people have IPv6 available at home than at work.

World-wide IPv6 deployment as measured by Google. (credit: Google)

Google also keeps a map of the world with IPv6 deployment numbers per country, handily color-coded for our convenience. More and more countries are turning green, with the US at nearly 25 percent IPv6, and Belgium still leading the world at almost 43 percent. Many other countries in Europe and Latin America and even Canada have turned green in the past year or two, but a lot of others are still stubbornly staying white, with IPv6 deployment figures well below one percent. Some, including China and many African nations, are even turning red or orange, indicating that IPv6 users in those countries experience significantly worse performance than IPv4 users.

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This is a kid’s burrito. That’s more than enough for me. http://ift.tt/1RTDO7g

T-Mobile fans holding out for the Blackberry Priv may finally have a date to circle on their calendars. A leaked document shows that the Blackberry Priv is scheduled to go on sale at T-Mobile on January 26. The price of T-Mobile’s Blackberry Priv isn’t revealed in the leak, but it’ll likely be close to $700 since that’s what Blackberry is charging for the phone though its website.

With the Priv heading to T-Mobile and Verizon during the month of January, BlackBerry should see a significant sales bump. The company hasn’t given us any solid sales figures for its first Android-powered phone, but it has stated that it’s satisfied with how things are going so far. The Priv has received mixed reviews from the tech community, but out of 120 consumer reviews on AT&T’s website, it does have a 4.6 out of 5 stars. Based on how things are shaping up with the Priv, we can pretty much guarantee that we’ll be seeing a few more Android-powered Blackberry smartphones in the future.

If you really want wireless headphones, it's not that cost prohibitive anymore just to buy a pair of wireless headphones. But if you already have a pair you love, and are finding their wires behaving more like tethers that are cramping your style and restricting your dance moves, VOXOA has a solution for you. The business end of the company's BTunes Bluetooth adapter is fitted with a jack that plugs into your existing pair of wired headphones to turn them wireless.

VOXOA promises that using BTunes to mod your Beats, B&Os, or Boses will maintain the same Hi-Fi sounds with CD-quality audio you're used to, plus provide the option of using your headphones to make hands-free calls. The adapter weighs just 0.5 ounces and has a 10-hour play time per charge.

BTunes adapters are available in 3.5mm and 2.5mm jack models, with a wide range of headphone compatibility. Head over to the Dude Exclusives online store to see if BTunes will fit your tunes set, and also to grab a pair for 30% off retail value for a limited time.

I guess the Your Slyce pizza topping divider--or as they call it, "personalization tool"--is a good idea for, say, the 1% of Americans who eat only 1 slice of pizza. For the rest of us, it's a terrible tease.

Oh hey, how's about the perfect slice of pizza? One that's completely custom sauced, cheesed, and toppinged to your liking. One that's guaranteed not to have your friend Cornelius' slimy pineapple or your friend Victor's rotten anchovy encroaching its borders. Great, here you go.

I know. It's exactly what you wanted, right? The best. The absolute best. What, you want a second piece? Well...huh...I didn't have enough room to make more than one bacon, onion & chili with a fried egg on top. But I do have a slice of cheese with no sauce my 4-year-old nephew barely took a bit out of.

Your Slyce indeed. Your Lone Single Measly Slyce.

On the plus side the non-stick silicone dough insert is flexible for easy clean-up and storage.

The ArcaBoard is indeed a real hoverboard. It looks like a giant domino. In this case though, the brick is a composition of aerospace grade composite materials, and the pips an arrangement of 36 high-powered Electric Ducted Fans. Liftoff is achieved when the fans fire up to produce up to 430 pounds of thrust and 272 horsepower. A built-in stabilization unit keeps you (fairly) level in various outdoor conditions, and ArcaBoard control and navigation come courtesy of your own smartphone. Cool...I guess. But I don't know, dude, at this point I'm kind of tired of the whole levitating personal transporter fad. Each new release trying to claim it has the physics figured out with magnets or sound waves or air pressure. Or the lot that slap wheels on the bottom and don't even try to leave the ground, but still call themselves hoverboards. The ArcaBoard might be the most authentic take so far on what Marty McFly rode around Hill Valley on, but it's still not even close to a replica.

Also, it costs almost $20,000.

Obviously the 3 dozen EDFs powering it, and rendering it strong enough to hold a 243-pound person, account for most of the ArcaBoard's elephantine nature. The rest of the machine consists mostly of controllers, batteries, and a cooling system to dissipate the mass amount of heat that builds up during use. During rides, any iOS or Android smartphone can pair with the ArcaBoard via Bluetooth. With the board's stabilization system on, all you need to do is sit down and move your phone with your hand; it will replicate your movements. There is also the option to turn off the stabilization system, at which point the phone controls only the board's elevation.

My BEST posts of 2015

December ♥ 10878

November ♥ 8171

October ♥ 12022

September ♥ 25444

August ♥ 28058

July ♥ 36791

June ♥ 25433

May ♥ 18015

April ♥ 62841

March ♥ 25872

February ♥ 32935

January ♥ 14869

Thanks to everyone who made this year so great!

Throwback Thursday

Are you afraid that electromagnetic radiation from cell phones, wi-fi, satellites, tv, radio, microwaves and “heavy doses of cosmic rays” might be affecting your health?

Are you afraid that a vague, yet menacing, government agency (or aliens) may be spying on your thoughts?

If so, then Shield: Signal Proof Headwear may be for you.

Check out the project video:

The garment, which is currently the focus of a Kickstarter campaign, is reportedly made from a “special signal proof fabric (100% silver coated shielding fabric)” that is antimicrobial, antiodor, washable, and said to generally block waves transmitted from electric devices.

Well, not 100% percent of the waves of course, but they claim that it’s “better than nothing”. They also try to sell you on its “cool” look and comfort (it’s way better than tinfoil folks).

Not surprisingly, the Kickstarter campaign is poised to achieve its goal as of this writing. Night Vale citizens must have bought these en masse.

(Geek via OhGizmo)

In case you missed it, Google Play has been running a year-end sale that offers up to 90% off some fantastic games, and today is your final chance to take advantage of the deals.

There are 27 total games included in the sale, and whatever style of game you are into, there is probably something there for you, so make sure you check out the deal page before the end of the day.

Some of my favorites include Lara Croft Go, Minecraft: Story Mode, Hitman: Sniper, Dark Echo, and This War of Mine (50 cents off a $14.99 game isn’t exactly a scorching deal, but it is a great game).

Here’s the full list of games on sale:

• Castle of Illusion
• Civilization Revolution 2
• Dark Echo
• Deep Under the Sky
• Final Fantasy III
• Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
• FRAMED
• Goat Simulator
• Hitman: Sniper
• Joe Danger
• Lara Croft GO
• Lego Batman: Beyond Gotham
• Leo’s Fortune
• Minecraft: Story Mode
• Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour
• Monument Valley
• NBA Jam
• Pac-Man CE DX
• Ravensburger Puzzle
• Rayman Fiesta Run
• Riptide GP2
• Sleeping Prince: Royal Edition
• Small World 2
• Splendor
• Surgeon Simulator
• This War of Mine
• Trivia Crack (Ad free)

Let us know if any of your personal favorites are in there that shouldn’t be missed.

Nikhil Pahwa, a volunteer with savetheinternet.in, says the Facebook boss has not answered a critical question.

“Why has Facebook chosen the current model for Free Basics, which gives users a selection of around 100 sites (including a personal blog and a real estate company homepage), while rejecting the option of giving the poor free access to the open, plural and diverse web?,” he wrote in a stinging riposte to Mr Zuckerberg’s personal appeal.

The reason he’s upset is because “Free Basics” is only one tier of service. They also have a paid tier. And he’s hoping that people who sign up for their free service will decide that they want the real Internet.

He even said that in areas that this service has already been offered, half of the subscribers upgrade to the full service within thirty days.

This isn’t some huge humanitarian project. It’s a business, plain and simple.

As a glimpse of a greener urban transport future, Germany has just opened the first five-kilometre (three-mile) stretch of a bicycle highway that is set to span over 100 kilometres.

It will connect 10 western cities including Duisburg, Bochum and Hamm and four universities, running largely along disused railroad tracks in the crumbling Ruhr industrial region.

The new track should take 50,000 cars off the roads every day, an RVR study predicts.