Disqus - Latest Comments for dphiffer

Re: http://blakegopnik.com/post/19291787920?60c78c00

Dan Phiffer — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:49:49 -0000

It occurred to me looking at the two pieces you included in your blog posts that, in each of the four photos, the focus point seems to be approximately in the center of the frame. It's not something I noticed when I saw them in person, perhaps owing to their scale. But if it is a common aspect to the images in the show, it might reveal something about the process. It seems to address your question about how much control is ceded to the autofocus logic of the camera. (Answer: maybe not very much.)

Re: Synthetic Biology

Dan Phiffer — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:16:59 -0000

I thought of sending this to you, but you found it!

Re: Occupy Wall Street, 7 Weeks In - Alan Taylor - In Focus - The Atlantic

Dan Phiffer — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:43:02 -0000

Number 39, wow.

Re: Is New Media Accepted in the Art World? Domenico Quaranta’s Media, New Media, PostMedia

Dan Phiffer — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 14:48:26 -0000

Here is a video of that Art Basel panel: http://www.artbasel.com/go/...

Re: Is The Value of Abstraction Lessened on The Internet?

Dan Phiffer — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:05:47 -0000

I wonder how Rafaël Rozendaal might fit into this discussion? Seems like his recent works (e.g., yesforsure.com, intotime.com) are very much about abstraction. Are they less "valuable" than his more figurative works (say, jellotime.com)? This question has a measurable answer! At least in one dimension of "value," given that he's found a way to sell his work to collectors. I wonder if abstraction factors into what price he can get for a work?

Also, that Newsome video appears to be suffering from a kind of link rot. Here's the FLV file:
http://www.rashaadnewsome.com/application/videos/the-conductor.flv

Re: Year in Cities 2009

Dan Phiffer — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:26:11 -0000

This "annual report" reminded me of your Year In Cities:
http://feltron.com/index.ph...

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:37:57 -0000

Awesome, glad you got a chance to see it! Very random, but somehow appropriate for the kind of show it is.

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:42:23 -0000

This is on a trail near Cold Spring, in upstate New York.

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:38:49 -0000

Thanks, I appreciate it! This one kind of reminds me of one of your videos, actually...

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:38:28 -0000

I'm pretty sure Anil doesn't expect his site to make everything sustainable. Raising awareness is a kind of activism, but I guess the risk is that people think they've done their part. I tend to give some benefit of the doubt with things like this. People understand that it's not enough to hold onto their old electronics. But it's still important!

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:43:36 -0000

Also, I would prefer not to debate you within a 140 character limit, because arguments end up being too simplified to be useful. Twitter isn't a good tool for debate, IMO. It's not the best tool for all things, but it is the best available tool for some things.

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:58:15 -0000

You seem to feel strongly about Twitter! I accept your challenge. I will write how I feel about Twitter in a proper blog post.

I should point out that RT means "retweet" and this was my friend Josh's post. There's a culture of reusing content this way that is somewhat controversial within the community (mainly because it adds noise if you've already seen something). Did you read his interview? I agreed with him that his is a better interview which is why I "retweeted" it.

So firstly, I apologize for letting the Twitter-speak leak out into here. Specialized language is a surefire way to make people feel excluded. Maybe what you're criticizing, unintentionally, is my propagation of the content out of its original context (I do this with Flickr and Delicious as well, but those are less context-sensitive). I agree that my non-blogging style has many drawbacks, especially when things like "RT" slip in.

But that's a separate issue to be debated some other time. I'll keep my arguments limited to Twitter. You should write a proper blog post as well.

Note: I edited my comment, removing "do you want to go first?" I think we should write free-standing arguments rather than make them too intertwingled.

Re: A quote for today...

Dan Phiffer — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:02:21 -0000

Taken quite literally: http://www.eternalsunset.net/

Re: tripit, my favorite startup

Dan Phiffer — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:28:19 -0000

I agree that the email interface is nice, but there are a few things that bug me about Tripit:

- Social software as competition, i.e. "you're tied for 2nd place for number of trips"
- Too many opportunities to get lost in semantic details (is it an "activity" or a "meeting")
- The best feature, plans@tripit.com, is not visible after you login

In general, though, the premise of parsing travel plans out of horrible jumbled email formats is a great service.

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:45:43 -0000

On the interwebs :)

I found it on a message board, so I'm actually not sure of it's origins...

Re: The Future of Fish Consumption

Dan Phiffer — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:04:51 -0000

I think that link is borked...

Re: Buy a traveler’s coffee mug

Dan Phiffer — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:48:16 -0000

I got my travel mug at a restaurant supply store in LA (http://www.surfasonline.com/) and it's held up pretty well for about 5 years so far. There's no plastic handle, which I prefer for backpack pockets, it keeps my coffee hot far longer than paper cups and is extremely durable. I actually ran it over with a truck on accident, and it came away unscathed (save for a few scratches).

The biggest downside is the lid. I've lost them twice so far, which is frustrating because I haven't found a place that sells lids independently from cups. It also gets a nasty smell/taste unless it's cleaned thoroughly after each use, but it's worth the extra effort.

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:04:25 -0000

Just very humbling.

Re: Ze Frank on The Sound of Young America at Sketchfest NYC

Dan Phiffer — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:54:42 -0000

Just had that "radio personality doesn't look at all like I imagined" moment.

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:55:25 -0000

Sleep has been had and I still haven't shaken the idea.

Here's the essence of it: you have a broadband connection that sits unused while you're away from home (or maybe it's not, but let's assume you're not a p2p junkie). Plus your crappy asymmetric connection is still probably way faster to others on the same subnet than the best professionally-hosted bandwidth. Why not put that to use?

Kind of along the lines of (the defunct) AllPeers or .Mac hosting, but with open code you run on your own computer at home. Simple, but customizable; less like BitTorrent, more like a distributed WordPress. I saw a screencast for something like this recently for easily sharing files through a web interface, but it depended on a central server. This would be entirely peer-to-peer, maybe using dynamic DNS.

Google's and Amazon's hosting are not targeted at the same audience this would be, although I'm sure there are other reasons it's a bad idea. Somebody please point them out so I can stop thinking about it.

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:04:28 -0000

Yeah, I agree. Ice cream seems like it was chosen to make his point, not because it is representative of local food sources.

Re: Ellie I. - Landscape Musings

Dan Phiffer — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:24:21 -0000

Sigh... We should go back soon.

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:58:33 -0000

/me slaps forehead

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:56:59 -0000

But will it be enough?

Re: Dan Phiffer

Dan Phiffer — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:17:37 -0000

Huh, I just noticed that when I typed this I mixed Apple shortcuts (⌘-S) with a Windows one (alt-tab). I'm pressing ⌘-tab, but I still think of it by its original Windows name. Probably since that's where my hands first associated the motion with switching between windows.

For all of Apple's talk about Microsoft ripping off their ideas, this method of changing contexts is very much a Redmond invention. All the same, I'd say replicating key bindings like this is good for users. Consistency is good!