Nov 8, 2011
5 notes

Why We Like: A Recommendation Engine For Tumblr Users

Hey again, Tumblr.

Here’s the exciting conclusion of my research project. Now that I know why people Like stuff on Tumblr, I’ve been able to build a recommendation system that I think is a little smarter than most.

Most recommendation sites just look at what you Like. However, we Like things for all sorts of reasons. Should Liking something because it made you laugh contribute the same amount to recommendations as Liking something because you agreed with it? I don’t think so.

My site asks you a few questions about why you’ve clicked that Like button, and takes that into account when it gives you some suh-weet recommendations.

Why We Like only gets better as more people use it. So, if you’d like, find some new new people to follow and tell me whether they’re any good (providing feedback is at the end of the recommendation process).

You get some cool new people to follow, and I get some more data for my thesis — everybody wins!

Nov 7, 2011
33 notes

Presenting: The Riker Maneuver.

Season 2 was a whole new beginning for Star Trek: The Next Generation. There were new doctors, new beards, and whole new ways of sitting down in chairs.

I’ve never seen Riker pull this stunt a second time, so I can only assume he did it here for the first time in front of the captain, got embarrassed that no-one said what he did was cool, and then never did it again. Starship politics are weird like that.

Oct 26, 2011
1 note
INT. SYDNEY MORNING HERALD BOARDROOM - DAY Men and women in business attire sit around a conference table. Some have laptops, others have stacks of paper. They are here to discuss which stories to run tomorrow. BUSINESSMAN OK, next on the agenda. We've got this story about Android app download numbers surpassing iOS's and we need a graphic to put in the header. Whaddaya got, team? KID WHO CAME TO WORK WITH HIS DAD, THE BOSS We should put skateboards on it! Not wanting to get on the boss's bad side, the team slowly nod their heads in agreement. ALL Yeah, good idea. Great thinking, kiddo! That's a great idea! I don’t understand the picture at all. The android is about to do a trick, maybe? It’s definitely on a skateboard, but I’m not seeing the connection between extreme sports and mobile operating systems. Is the skateboard angling up at the end meant to represent the growth of Android app downloads? Wait. I’ve got it. What if the whole thing is a musing on the evolution of Android — at first, rocky on the metaphorical skateboard that is the tech industry, but eventually finding its feet and getting ready to pop some sick ollies! I take it all back, SMH graphic design department.

INT. SYDNEY MORNING HERALD BOARDROOM - DAY

Men and women in business attire sit around a conference table. Some have laptops, others have stacks of paper. They are here to discuss which stories to run tomorrow.

                            BUSINESSMAN

                OK, next on the agenda. We've got  
                this story about Android app download  
                numbers surpassing iOS's and we  
                need a graphic to put in the header.  
                Whaddaya got, team?

                       KID WHO CAME TO WORK   
                       WITH HIS DAD, THE BOSS

                We should put skateboards on it!

Not wanting to get on the boss's bad side, the team slowly nod their heads in agreement.

                               ALL

                 Yeah, good idea. Great thinking,  
                 kiddo! That's a great idea!

I don’t understand the picture at all. The android is about to do a trick, maybe? It’s definitely on a skateboard, but I’m not seeing the connection between extreme sports and mobile operating systems. Is the skateboard angling up at the end meant to represent the growth of Android app downloads?

Wait. I’ve got it. What if the whole thing is a musing on the evolution of Android — at first, rocky on the metaphorical skateboard that is the tech industry, but eventually finding its feet and getting ready to pop some sick ollies! I take it all back, SMH graphic design department.

Oct 26, 2011
41 notes

My Research Project: Why We Like

Hey, Tumblr.

I’m really interested in Like buttons. I think they’re a fascinating phenomenon. It’s something that’s not even five years old and yet it’s already become something that millions of people do every day. It’s something that we do without thinking, but can’t always explain. Long story short, I’m interested. So interested, in fact, that I decided that my undergrad research project at UQ should be about why we click Like buttons and how knowing that might be able to improve social recommendation systems. I need to gather some information from real live people, and I could really use your help — all you’d have to do is keep using Tumblr. Interested? Read on.

As part of my research, I’m investigating why people are Liking things online. To keep things simple, I’m focusing on users of one particular social network — in this case, Tumblr. I’m running a kind of diary study over the course of a week to find out why people are Liking things on Tumblr.

Here’s how it works. You download and install a browser extension (for Safari or Chrome). Then, for the next week, every time you Like a Tumblr post, a form pops up and asks you why you just Liked that post. You answer the question and submit the form, and then the form goes away. Too easy, right? Everything’s kept anonymous, and you can opt out at any time by just uninstalling the browser extension.

If you’d like to participate in the diary study (and boy would it be swell if you would), head over here, download the browser extension and get Liking!

Thanks for your time.

Oct 21, 2011
0 notes
Preparing to go on stage at Macworld in 1997. Photographed by Diana Walker.

Preparing to go on stage at Macworld in 1997. Photographed by Diana Walker.

Oct 15, 2011
4 notes
Ugh. Ugh. UGH. Adam called it back in January:

Ugh. Ugh. UGH.

Adam called it back in January:

Oct 13, 2011
10 notes

MST3K — Beyond Thunderdome

“Also, it really helps if your stooge speaks of a thunderdome in a disparaging manner, as in our little playlet. It’ll still work if he speaks of a thunderome in a positive light, but if I were you, I’d wait until somebody slams a thunderdome.”

Oct 13, 2011
2 notes
Ryan never lets me forget about my heritage.

Ryan never lets me forget about my heritage.

Oct 7, 2011
1 note

I don’t have a Steve story.

However, I did have the opportunity to see the guy in action, in what would no less turn out to be his last Apple keynote. This shitty, thirty-seconds-long video snippet from WWDC 2011 is probably of value to no-one but me — it’s a dark room, the stage is too far away to really see anything, and the footage is shaky as hell. But I thought I’d upload and share it anyway. It’s my one connection to the man that’s behind almost everything that I do. It’s my one piece of evidence that I got to see Steve Jobs, the world’s greatest presenter, in the flesh.

I don’t have any other photos or videos from Steve’s presentation. After I recorded that video, I put down my phone, packed up my camera, and decided to just be there. Live in the moment, or whatever, right? I stopped documenting and just watched, enthralled as Steve emceed the event and, eventually, introduced iCloud himself.

I put the camera down at the start of the keynote and tried to drink in as much of it as I could. Who knows how many more times I’ll have the chance to be sitting here, to experience this, I thought.

Now, I know.

Oct 5, 2011
3 notes
“You mean you have to use your hands? That’s like a baby’s toy!”

“You mean you have to use your hands? That’s like a baby’s toy!”

Oct 4, 2011
Notes
Is it just me, or is that play/pause button the most difficult button to successfully tap on in all of iOS?

Is it just me, or is that play/pause button the most difficult button to successfully tap on in all of iOS?

Sep 27, 2011
3 notes
It freaks me out a little that Transformer hands look pretty much like human hands.

It freaks me out a little that Transformer hands look pretty much like human hands.

Sep 26, 2011
1 note
“I’d like to read this book on Kindle.”

“I’d like to read this book on Kindle.”

Sep 25, 2011
13 notes

Uploading a File With One Keystroke

Starring: Quicksilver, Automator, and Transmit

  1. Set up a Service in Automator that applies to files and folders in the Finder. Make the Service pass the files it’s given into Transmit’s “Upload” Service. Select a website or Transmit Favorite to upload the files to. Save your new Service. Now you can right-click on files and go “Upload to $server_name”. That’s a good start, but let’s bam it up a notch.
  2. In Quicksilver, enable Proxy Objects and create a new Trigger that takes the current Finder selection and uses it as the input to the Service you just made. Bind the Trigger to a Hot Key. Now you’ve got access to that Service through a keyboard shortcut.

I press ⌥⇧⌃U and the file I’ve selected in the Finder is uploaded to my server.

My only problem with this workflow is that it causes Transmit to become the active application. If you know of a way to hide Transmit while the file’s uploading, do tell.

Sep 24, 2011
3 notes
The Hummingbirds - Blush [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

The Hummingbirds — “Blush”

Jangle pop from a late-’80s Australian band. Pretty melodies and harmonies and stuff.

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