scanR

scoble blogs about scanR (which might prove to be the only legitimate instance of the already overused -R suffix). basically, it lets you use your 1+ megapixel camera phone as a scanner, fax machine, etc. cool, cool shit which lends more credence to beattie's corollary: "if someone is using a pc to demo the Next Big Thing...then it's not the next big thing."

interestingly, as pervasive as cell phones are in grenada, there really aren't any home-grown mobile apps to speak of (granted, grenadians are too busy rebuilding their nation after hurricane ivan to worry about the latest cool comm hack).

the closest thing to a mobile app that i've seen down here is the nokia 1100's built in flashlight, which is pretty handy during power outages. and when i go out to parties, i've seen a lot of dj's using them while digging through their crates...kinda made me think about convergence in a new way.

Technorati Tags: mobile, cell, phones, applications, imaging, camera, scanr

dear comment spammers

you realize you're spamming the wrong blog, right? i mean.....we suck. really, ask anybody: NOBODY reads this shit, even me! this blog basically answers the age old question, 'if a tree farts in the woods and no one is there to smell it, does it still stink?'.

and google juice? forget about it. has anybody ever linked to us? we can barely even get google smegma, we suck that badly.

i've been thanking god that you douche bags have started leaving comments -- your spam is actually more interesting and informative than our posts. a+ work!

pharma pricing

interesting bmj article on pharmaceutical pricing, via the healthcare renewal blog:

The United States government is engaged in a campaign to characterise other industrialised countries as free riding on high US pharmaceutical prices and innovation in new drugs. This campaign is based on the argument that lower prices imposed by price controls in other affluent countries do not pay for research and development costs, so that Americans have to pay the research costs through higher prices in order to keep supplying the world with new drugs.
[...]
We can find no convincing evidence to support the view that the lower prices in affluent countries outside the United States do not pay for research and development costs. The latest report from the UK Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme documents that drug companies in the United Kingdom invest proportionately more of their revenues from domestic sales in research and development than do companies in the US. Prices in the UK are much lower than those in the US yet profits remain robust.
[...]
...in Canada the 35 companies that are members of the brand name industry association report that income from domestic sales is, on average, about 10 times greater than research and development costs. They have profits higher than makers of computer equipment and telecommunications carriers despite prices being about 40% lower than in the US.
[...]
Contrary to claims of American dominance, pharmaceutical research and development in the US has not produced more than its proportionate share of new molecular entities. The US accounts for just under 48% of world sales and spent 49% of the global total on research and development to discover 45% of the new molecular entities that were launched on the world market in 2003, less than its proportionate share. European countries account for 28% of world sales, 36% of total research and development spending, and 32% of new molecular entities, more than its proportionate share.

Technorati Tags: pharma, healthcare, econ, drugs, pricing, global, research, r&d

search, curiosity

interesting quote from a die zeit article on search, focusing on ask jeeves. [via john battelle]:

It's all about a kind of hunger which is still far from being satiated. Just like kids, most adults have their heads full of questions, but there's nobody at hand who knows more than them, so they stopped asking and learned to postpone their questions. Until Google appeared, the possibility to get an answer from the immense collection of human knowledge, from this Library of Babel, as the Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges dreamed, a collection which contains everything, all letters in every possible combination, all meaning and nonsense in all languages.

outsourced life

via waxy links, a hilarious esquire article on outsourcing...

I don't have a corporation; I don't even have an up-to-date business card. I'm a writer and editor working from home, usually in my boxer shorts or, if I'm feeling formal, my penguin-themed pajama bottoms. Then again, I think, why should Fortune 500 firms have all the fun? Why can't I join in on the biggest business trend of the new century? Why can't I outsource my low-end tasks? Why can't I outsource my life?
[...]
And so far, I'm not going broke: I'm paying $1,000 for a month of eight-hour days from Honey (Brickwork gave me a half-off deal) and $400 for a month of four-hour days from Your Man in India.
[...]
Honey has completed her first project for me: research on the person Esquire has chosen as the Sexiest Woman Alive. (See page 232.) I've been assigned to write a profile of this woman, and I really don't want to have to slog through all the heavy-breathing fan Web sites about her. When I open Honey's file, I have this reaction: America is fucked. There are charts. There are section headers. There is a well-organized breakdown of her pets, measurements, and favorite foods (e.g., swordfish). If all Bangalorians are like Honey, I pity Americans about to graduate college. They're up against a hungry, polite, Excel-proficient Indian army. Put it this way: Honey ends her emails with "Right time for right action, starts now!" Your average American assistant believes the "right time for right action" starts after a Starbucks venti latte and a discussion of last night's Amazing Race 8.

it continues...read for yourselves you lazy shits...

silkworms...they're what's for dinner

this post can basically be summed up by two words: "fucking koreans". in the crease, what's wrong with your people???

behold: silk worm pupae. [via bastard of art & commerce]

here's some choice quotes from the taste test:

Any words in an oval demand attention. The yellow oval on this can says "High Protein - Great side dish when drinking alcohol." I imagine this came from the silkworm marketing team when faced with the nagging question "Who the fuck's gonna eat this?!" The answer: DRUNKS!
[...]
Sadly there is no "Serving Size" listed-- ruining my hopes that the serving size might be zero.
[...]
I found it odd that the pull-tab was actually on the bottom of the can, until I realized this is just a time-saver for people who'd rather open it right over the garbage.