Black Rectangle Review — Black Rectangle

Black Rectangle

gofwd :

No webpage is an island.
Every time you click a link on the internet, you set off a cascading series of events. Some are the ones you would expect: the site needs to talk to a server to download images, for example, which takes some time. Others are less obvious. These are the obscure URLs that flash by at the bottom of your browser, and slow the whole process down.
Those little URLs are just the tip of the iceberg, and Ghostery is a free browser extension that lets you see the whole thing. For example, here’s what Ghostery, which sits in the background while you browse, tells us about those invisible parts of this IMDB page:
To see the IMDB page for Pacific Rim, my browser talked to nearly 30 sites outside of IMDB (disclosure: BuzzFeed racks up about 15, and the NSA’s official website counts just one: Google Analytics).
They’re a mixture of advertising sites, tracking software, analytics tools and social plugins — tweet buttons, Facebook buttons and the like. A lot of the names in the lists will be familiar: Google, Amazon, etc. For the ones that aren’t, Ghostery gives you a summary of what they do. Usually the weirder ones are ad products; sometimes, they’re pleasant surprises:

The Most Important Piece Of Software You’ve Never Heard Of

And Buzzfeed is one of the worst sites for this kind of thing.
Don’t click through to Buzzfeed’s garbage article (it doesn’t tell you anything that this post hasn’t). Instead, just download Ghostery and move on.

Ben AlexanderJuly 16, 2013buzzfeed, buzzfeed sucks, ghostery, pluginsComment

Adios AltaVista

Adios AltaVista

Ben AlexanderJune 29, 2013altavista, search, google, yahoo, rip, worldwideweb, 90sComment

Ben AlexanderMay 31, 2013fixed, google, automation, community, cities, designComment

AV Club Gameological Society on why backwards compatibility is bad for gaming

AV Club Gameological Society on why backwards compatibility is bad for gaming

Ben AlexanderMay 30, 2013videogames, emulation, ps3, xbox one, ps4, microsoft, sony, nintendoComment

Ben AlexanderMay 15, 2013facebookComment

Bringing BBM to Android and iOS should have happened a year ago

Bringing BBM to Android and iOS should have happened a year ago

Ben AlexanderMay 14, 2013blackbery, technoloy, messagin, bbm, ios, androidComment

thisistheverge :

Tumblr launches first-ever mobile ads in its iOS and Android apps
Prepare for an onslaught of gif ads

Ben AlexanderApril 22, 2013ads, marketing, apple, tumblrComment

Finally, there's a phone for your phone.

Finally, there's a phone for your phone.

Ben AlexanderApril 19, 2013phone, inception, htcComment

Ben AlexanderApril 17, 2013hackers, 90sComment

prostheticknowledge :

Manfred Mohr’s Youtube Channel
A collection of videos featuring works by pioneering computer artist Manfred Mohr, many dating back to the early 70’s. Also includes interviews and lectures:

Manfred Mohr is considered a pioneer of digital art. After discovering Prof. Max Bense’s information aesthetics in the early 1960’s, Mohr’s artistic thinking was radically changed. Within a few years, his art transformed from abstract expressionism to computer generated algorithmic geometry. Encouraged by the computer music composer Pierre Barbaud whom he met in 1967, Mohr programmed his first computer drawings in 1969.

You can go to the Youtube channel here

Ben AlexanderApril 10, 2013art, cgi, videoComment

bobbyfinger :

Buncha losers.
(via Does Buzzfeed Know the Secret? — New York Magazine )

It is no doubt that Buzzfeed is very good at what they do. I am curious as to when and how it will fall apart for them.

Ben AlexanderApril 7, 2013buzzfeed, news, marketing, hailcorporate, contentComment

Ben AlexanderApril 7, 2013twitter, fake accounts, botsComment

Ben AlexanderApril 4, 2013ouya, kickstarter, videogames, android, crowdfundingComment

eightninea :

Rebuild —

Ben AlexanderMarch 30, 2013gif, abstractComment

The Independent Crowdfunding Blog - backers.co: There are eight hundred crowdfunding sites say Indiegogo

Ben AlexanderMarch 26, 2013crowdfunding, kickstarter, competition, indiegogoComment

Ben AlexanderMarch 25, 2013glitch, nintendo, video games, super mario bros, mario, art, video, controllerism, hackingComment

fromgreecetoanarchy :

Escape

Ben AlexanderMarch 25, 2013iphone, apple, advertising, art, ios, walled gardenComment

mosesgunn :

Darkstar

respect your elders

Ben AlexanderMarch 22, 2013Comment

vgjunk :

Hacker , Commodore 64.

Ben AlexanderMarch 21, 2013Comment

Ben AlexanderMarch 16, 2013mixtapes, music, why do we need this, SXSW, spotify, youtube, technology, QR codes, mobileComment