Making the World Suck Less

Bring on the autonomous drones delivering medicine to remote villages, @AirWareUAS

Via WIRED. Awesome stuff, Airware. Proud to be a small part of the process.

What are some more positive examples of where drones are being deployed that people haven’t seen?

We’re involved in research funded by the Gates Foundation that looks at how we can distribute medicines and vaccines in rural Africa in a fairly automated way. Essentially the researchers at looking at creating a spoke and wheel system with drones as the spokes. So from a central distribution point in Africa where there is already an airport, or vehicles that bring medicines and vaccines in, we then distribute the stuff via drones. So that entails a whole collection of UAVs that on regular schedules fly out to these remote villages, drop the package and come back in a very, very autonomous way.

"Let me give you some advice, bastard..."

"Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.”

Wise words, Tyrion.

Andy Baio (@waxpancake) snapped a great photo of our @VanityFair spread for @donorschoose

Thank you, Andy! It was an honor to be part of this shoot by the great Annie Leibovitz in recognition of an amazing non-profit, DonorsChoose.org.

Here's the tweet of this photo:

Punch Above Your Weight Class

All my fellow entrepreneurs know what I'm talking about.

Trial of the Clone gamebook hits iOS and Android, narrated by @WilW!

It's here! If you enjoyed Trial of the Clone, the book, you'll love the gamebook read by Wil Wheaton! It's available on iOS and Android.

21st Century USA. Executive Order Making Open & Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information

This is a big deal. Awesome news.

The move will make troves of previously inaccessible or unmanageable data easily available to entrepreneurs, researchers, and others who can use those files to generate new products and services, build businesses, and create jobs.

One of the most beautiful & fantastic things I've seen on the iPad: @hullabalu

Seriously. Sign up so you don't miss out when it launches.

If you only watch one time-lapse film, watch this one

Go ahead and put it into full-screen mode and say goodbye to the next three minutes thirty seconds.

Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

How come most sites can get away with such crappy treatment of users?

The NYTimes wrote a little while back about how hard it is to delete an account on most social networks and web services. I got to be a voice of dissent (and reason):

Still, not every site takes the “Never Gonna Give You Up” approach. Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of the social news site Reddit, said that if users wanted to delete an account, “they should be able to do that as easily as they signed up.”
“It puts the onus on us to keep delivering a great product, and not retaining users simply because they can’t find the exit,” he said.

But really, why are sites like reddit the exception, not the rule? How valuable can 'trapped' users be? How much are you slacking on your product and business because you don't have to keep earning that user?

This will make your day. /r/picrequests restores 87 year old Navy vet's portrait (watch his reaction!)

I love this so much. Bravo, /r/picrequests.