kottke.orgJason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext productsThe number of passengers traveling by train in the US...- June 23, 2008 The number of passengers traveling by train in the US rose significantly in May. Unfortunately, Amtrak is reaching full capacity with no real way to increase the number of trains or routes at its disposal for several years. In 1970, the year that Congress voted to create Amtrak by consolidating the passenger operations of freight railroads, the airlines were about 17 times larger than the railroads, measured by passenger miles traveled; now they are more than 100 times larger. Highway travel...http://www.kottke.org/remainder/08/06/15917.html Andy Baio interviews Alan Taylor, the fellow behind The...- June 23, 2008 Andy Baio interviews Alan Taylor, the fellow behind The Big Picture, the journalistic photo blog that's taken the web by storm. Internally, externally, everywhere, people are being really thankful to me. I need to make sure (with some link-love in my upcoming blogroll) that the response gets directed to the photographers as well. I'm just a web developer with access to their photos and a blog - they're the ones out there working hard to get these amazing images. "Photographers" here is a loose.http://www.kottke.org/remainder/08/06/15914.html The history of the design and manufacture of the TiVo...- June 23, 2008 The history of the design and manufacture of the TiVo remote control. Like any remote, the designers were adamant about keeping the remote's button layout as simple as possible. But with the DVR's numerous features, the designers needed to create lots of extra buttons. To keep things straight, each button needed to have a distinctive feel, giving the ability to control the remote without even looking at it, which Newby described as a "key Braille-ability" surprisingly helped by the "blank...http://www.kottke.org/remainder/08/06/15915.html New Yorker profile of Keith Olbermann, with lots about the...- June 23, 2008 New Yorker profile of Keith Olbermann, with lots about the changing face of journalism from the desire for objective neutrality to the more sensational opinion that saturates cable, newspapers, and the blogosphere. But Olbermann contends that the labored pretense of neutrality in the news business is a fruitless exercise. "There are people who, with absolute conviction, believe that Brian Williams is a Communist," he said. "There are people who, with absolute conviction, believe that Katie...http://www.kottke.org/remainder/08/06/15912.html Washington Post writer admits to having a fantasy of correcting...- June 20, 2008 Washington Post writer admits to having a fantasy of correcting typos in restaurant menus with "a distinctive purple pen". But sometimes the computer's spellchecker is no help. Despite my attempts to stop it, my Microsoft Word program would always change the word for Italy's famous cured meat into what it assumed I meant to type. The night we closed an issue, I would have nightmares that when the magazine hit the stands, one of my reviews would describe "the delicate sweet and salty balance of.http://www.kottke.org/remainder/08/06/15911.html A whole bunch of old photos of NYC. More...- June 20, 2008 A whole bunch of old photos of NYC. More here. (link)http://www.kottke.org/remainder/08/06/15910.html For its July 2008 issue, Vogue Italia is featuring only...- June 20, 2008 For its July 2008 issue, Vogue Italia is featuring only black models and feature articles about black women in arts and entertainment. Having worked at one time with nearly all the models he chose for the black issue -- Iman, Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, Jourdan Dunn, Liya Kebede, Alek Wek, Pat Cleveland, Karen Alexander -- photographer Steven Meisel had his own feelings. "I thought, it's ridiculous, this discrimination," said Mr. Meisel, speaking by phone from his home in Los Angeles. "It's so.http://www.kottke.org/remainder/08/06/15909.html Idea for Amazon regarding their MP3 store: allow people to...- June 20, 2008 Idea for Amazon regarding their MP3 store: allow people to pre-order MP3s and when they're available for download, send out an email to that effect. For instance, the new Sigur Ros album is out on June 24. A page for the MP3 album exists but it's difficult to find and while you can preview tracks, you can't pre-order the album. (link)http://www.kottke.org/remainder/08/06/15907.html Quentin Tarantino's next movie: Inglorious Bastards. Here's le plot: A...- June 20, 2008 Quentin Tarantino's next movie: Inglorious Bastards. Here's le plot: A band of U.S. soldiers facing death by firing squad for their misdeeds are given a chance to redeem themselves by heading into the perilous no-man's lands of Nazi-occupied France on a suicide mission for the Allies. According to Ain't It Cool News, Tarantino will release the movie in two parts, as he did with Kill Bill. (via crazymonk) (link)http://www.kottke.org/remainder/08/06/15905.html How much is that old iPhone worth- June 20, 2008 Just after Apple announced the iPhone 3G, Khoi Vinh whipped up a quick graph of the declining value of his iPhone over the past year. He generously estimates that when the iPhone 3G is released in early, his old iPhone will be worth $100, half of the price for a new iPhone 3G. At the time, I speculated that you'd be hard pressed to find a buyer at $75. However, the resale market for old iPhones might not be so dismal. AT&T has confirmed to MacWorld that in-store activation of the iPhone 3G.http://www.kottke.org/08/06/how-much-is-that-old-iphone-worth |