Molecularist

Hm. One more thing that proves I'm a thinker and not a do-er. I was thinking how cool would it be to create a web site full of videos to teach folks about certain techniques and such (particularly safety). Here's pretty much the same thing. But it's live. Not lounging in my head. (and I see they did it last year, and they are right here in Boston – gah <forehead slap>) [via @JLVernonPHD]

A very well-written article on a serious problem in science communications. [via @BoraZ]

[via @skinny]

ORLY? Portal = Info dashboard = Info filter. And Google, AOL, Topix are just "default" portals that folks can understand and easily use.

"There are no search-specific findings; however it appears from the survey data that “portal websites like Google News, AOL and Topix are the most commonly used online news sources, visited by over half of online news users on a typical day."

"We think Apple foresees a future in which the iPad is the default way people do what they now do with computers (and some other new things)." [via @uszabo]

"Today, we’re happily turning the Firehose on for some new partners focused mainly on exploring the incredibly rich field of real-time search and discovery."

"The Live Edition is presently available as an Ebook (PDF, Mobi, and ePub) bundle, and the updated content will also be available through Safari Books Online and eventually print on demand. Customers who buy a Live Edition will get all the updates to the book up until the next new print edition of the book, when the cycle will start again. (For Learning Rails, customers will get all the updates for the upcoming 3.x version of Rails.)" [via @perryhewitt]

"Look! Up in the sky! It’s a prose author moving a ton of graphic novels!"

"Children’s Hospital Boston has created a Facebook page by which all other hospital pages should be judged. It’s so impressive it inspired a future Alert Presence article, “The Anatomy of a Great Hospital Facebook Page”. The expertly designed profile picture, beautifully presented tab pages and even their own viral marketing Facebook applications have all contributed to the page attracting over 90,000 fans."

Another feather in my cap. Yeah.

Good analysis [via @atmaspere]

"The possibility of strange forms of alien life seems to have just got a whole lot closer to home. Astrobiologists from Arizona State University, Florida, UC Boulder, NASA, Harvard and Australia have recently theorized about a “shadow biosphere” – a biosphere within a biosphere where alternative biochemistry may be thriving in a way that we haven’t yet thought to examine." [via @rnaworld]

Just brilliant.

"The writer Douglas Adams observed how technology that existed when we were born seems normal, anything that is developed before we turn 35 is exciting, and whatever comes after that is treated with suspicion. This is not to say all media technologies are harmless, and there is an important debate to be had about how new developments affect our bodies and minds. But history has shown that we rarely consider these effects in anything except the most superficial terms because our suspicions get the better of us. In retrospect, the debates about whether schooling dulls the brain or whether newspapers damage the fabric of society seem peculiar, but our children will undoubtedly feel the same about the technology scares we entertain now. It won't be long until they start the cycle anew."

Wonderful essay on giving.

Very good range of ideas (though a tad predictable). Two I liked in particular were from Paul LeClerc, President and CEO, New York Public Library, and Kevin Rose, Founder of Digg. Go and read them all. [via @BoraZ]

"The Fitbit accurately tracks your calories burned, steps taken, distance traveled and sleep quality. The Fitbit contains a 3D motion sensor like the one found in the Nintendo Wii. The Fitbit tracks your motion in three dimensions and converts this into useful information about your daily activities." [via @rivalee]

"As I've been digging deeper into the data I've gathered on 210 million public Facebook profiles, I've been fascinated by some of the patterns that have emerged. My latest visualization shows the information by location, with connections drawn between places that share friends. For example, a lot of people in LA have friends in San Francisco, so there's a line between them." [via laurie b]

[via @bryanrieger]

[via @bryanrieger]