theodp writes “In ‘The Design That Conquered Google,’ The New Yorker’s Matt Buchanan reports that ‘cards’ — modeled after real cards — are set to become one of the dominant ways in which Google presents certain types of information to users. The power of a card as a visual-organization metaphor according to Matias Duarte (lead designer of Android), is that ‘it makes very clear the atomic unity of things; it’s still flexible while creating a kind of regularity.’ Hey, maybe that Bill Atkinson was really on to something with that dadgum HyperCard software of his back in the ’80s!”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
“Power is a lot like real estate. It’s all about location, location, location.” — Frank Underwood, House of Cards At this very moment, Mark Zuckerberg’s political lobby, FWD.us, is probably taken aback at how reviled it has become, both from the public and its own revolting members. After all, there are countless political technology lobbies, including Facebook’s own Political Action Committee, which routinely offer Republican candidates campaign cash for quid pro quo political favor. So, why, after discovering FWD.us indirectly supporting the controversial Keystone Pipeline initiative, have would-be supporters flooded their Facebook page with scathing comments, and its A-list supporters, such as Tesla’s Elon Musk, ditched the group? Unlike other lobbies, FWD.us burst on to the scene with a very public op-ed from its celebrity founder, promising to galvanize the latent civic passions of Silicon Vally’s netizens in a noble crusade to advance the knowledge society. While one hand extended towards grassroots supporters, the other reached into its wallet pocket and discretely doled out funds to controversial candidates. There’s a reason most lobbies don’t bother with grassroots activism: communities don’t get excited about the kinds of soul-crushing moral compromise necessary in DC politics. So, when FWD.us rolled up with millions in hand claiming to be the voice of the technologists, those who felt misrepresented freaked out. Even more confusing, when confronted, FWD.us chose to do something no other major organization in technology has done: it remained silent. Even the notoriously tight-lipped Apple holds a press conference after public uproar. Californians haven’t been become jaded to the kinds of secrecy common for Wall Street banks and campaign SuperPACs. The unfazed backdoor dealings caricatured in Netflix’s (addicting) House of Cards series may work for lobbies based in our nation’s capitol, but Californians evidently won’t tolerate it in their backyard. “I revised the parameters of my promise.” – Frank Underwood Twitter co-founder Evan Williams tweeted a link to a scathing blog post from former Twitter employee Josh Miller, explaining, “In service of noble causes, FWD.us is employing questionable lobbying techniques, misleading supporters, and not being transparent about the underlying values and long-term intentions of the organization. More discouragingly, the leaders of the technology industry (and of FWD.us) have built their careers on bringing meaningful change to the world. They should be doing the same in Washington.” FWD.us would-be grassroots supporters agree, “Will Fwd.us prostitute climate destruction & other values to get a few engineers hired & get immigration reform?”, wrote
Netflix’s “House of Cards” took center stage at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, with an official spoof about the back room jockeying over seat assignments at the coveted press dinner. The clip even gave a big nod to Buzzfeed’s alternative BBQ held during the actual dinner. Despite their admirable popularity, Buzzfeed is not a member of the White House Correspondents Association and didn’t get a table. “A colonoscopy would be cooler than that dinner,” Buzzfeed Editor and Chief, Ben Smith, says to Kevin Spacey’s character. Buzzfeed even got a shoutout from the President himself during his annual stand up routine, “I Remember When BuzzFeed Was Just Something I Did In College Around 2 A.M,” said the President in (yes) an obvious reference to his pot-smoking college days. Watch the whole routine below: The House Of Cards cast was out in full force at DC’s stargazing weekend. There are a lot of entertainers that stroll into town, but Kevin Spacey was the uber-celebrity. Even at Tammy Haddad’s famous Garden Brunch, the A-list crowd couldn’t help but turn heads upon Spacey’s arrival. On top of viewers, House of Cards has made Netflix the talk of the town among policymakers, which could be worth more political capital than the $ 1M they spent on lobbying last year. It seemed like everyone was happy to talk with Netflix’s representatives, even just as an excuse to dish about the drama and get some inside details about Capitol Hill’s new favorite pastime. Interestingly enough, Netflix’s other original series, Hemlock Grove, may be off to a better start in terms of viewers, but doesn’t seem to have the same buzz. An obvious but valuable lesson: influential fans are worth a lot.
Netflix original series House of Cards makes for really good TV, even if you’ll never watch the show on any broadcast or cable network. That’s because Netflix cut a reported $ 100 million check for exclusive rights to stream the program to its subscribers. If the first two episodes are any indication, that bet should pay off handsomely.
You may have heard the disappointing 
As you know, there was a big kerfluffle the other day when Instagram, part of Facebook, decided to turn off Twitter Card functionality for its photos. Basically, you would no longer see the images in all their glory, rather, you’d see a cropped version. Instagram co-founder said at LeWeb that this was done for the purpose of driving more traffic to the web experience for Instagram, a move that it felt had to be made. Today, they appear to be turned back on. We’ve reached out to both companies for comment (Check our UPDATE below for what happened): We’re seeing this on both web and mobile versions of Twitter. Many people discussed why Instagram would do this, with our own Michael Arrington laying it all out here. Basically, the move itself, was not good for users in the long run. Twitter cards allow you to view content embedded within tweets with a link, to give you an idea of what you’ll be clicking on and going to. In some cases, it could stop things from getting fully viewed. With Instagram photos though, you can get everything you need by simply seeing it. If you want to take it a step further for engagement purposes, then clicking the link is the option you can make. At the end of the day, it’s all about options for users. Don’t lock them in. It’s understandable that companies have to make tough decisions, as Twitter itself has in a few cases, specifically with ratcheting back access to its firehose of data. Sometimes, moves just aren’t worth hurting users, as I feel was the case with this one. If this move is indeed reversed forever, it’s a smart move by Instagram. UPDATE: We’re hearing that this might be a “regression” and not an intentional move by Instagram. UPDATE 2: From an Instagram spokesperpson: As Kevin mentioned at Le Web, Instagram is dropping support for Twitter cards. What you are seeing now may be some sort of regression depending on the mobile client, but we’re checking in with the engineers. This is developing. [Photo credit: Flickr]
It’s Thanksgiving for us here in the U.S. of Gorging On Turkey and we wanted to give thanks for you, our dear audience. It’s your constant readership and semi-trollish comments that keep us waking up in the morning and keep us from going to sleep at night. To thank you, we want to give you a $ 100 and a $ 50 
In August, Etsy, the popular online marketplace for all things handmade, 
If you’ve ever needed a better way to manage your contact lists directly on your iPhone, a new app called 
a day for occasional visits and 
Exchanging business cards is like 
Seems it’s not time to throw those business cards out just yet. 
Well, it’s about time. Many of us were absolutely floored by the
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