onfocus

I agree that cutesy error messages are irritating. I'd rather see a more serious "we're on it" notice.

Great collection of miscellaneous tech tips. I have a bunch of these in a text file too. I should make them public like this.

"So maybe, instead of waiting for the MPAA’s next law and changing our Twitter avatars for a few days in protest, it would be more productive to significantly reduce or eliminate our support of the MPAA member companies starting today, and start supporting campaign finance reform."

Russ Cox explains how the retired Google Code Search used to work. It includes links to a similar project you can install locally to search code using the same method.

Great talk from Clay Shirky that tells some of the history behind SOPA and why it's dangerous. "They [media companies] want us all back on the couch: just consume."

"Once the market matures, the pirates go away. They always do. Legitimate markets work better than pirate markets."

"Glue is a simple command line tool to generate CSS sprites." Handy!

Good description of a handy tool that helps test mail server settings.

The annual state of the world.

Not only a fun site to browse, but a good example of taking group Flickr content elsewhere for a new experience.

"Remix culture is the new Prohibition, with massive media companies as the lone voices calling for temperance. You can criminalize commonplace activities from law-abiding people, but eventually, something has to give."

"Like a service? Make them charge you or show you ads. If they won't do it, clone them and do it yourself. Soon you'll be the only game in town!" This is both absolutely true and heartbreaking.

Does what it says on the tin. !important

"Linux, and the Internet broke everything wide open. It’s taken 20 years to get a lot of it boxed back up again. I hope there are still air cracks by the time my kids are old enough to jam screwdrivers in there."

This puts the concentration of media into perspective. [via mlkshk]

Time often uses a different cover in the US.

More thoughts on the UC Davis pepper spray incident and police militarization in general from a Davis faculty member. [via megnut]

"If the students turned away, they pounded their ribs. If they turned further away to escape, they hit them on their spines." Hard to believe this happened in Berkeley of all places. By Robert Hass, former US Poet Laureate. [via sacca]