Hey folks! I'm Clive Thompson, and I'm a journalist who writes about the impact of technology and science on everyday life. I'm the author of Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds For the Better, and a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and Wired. — Read the rest
Kevin Kelly and I launched a new podcast at Cool Tools. In this entertaining second installment of the Cool Tools podcast, Clive Thompson, author of Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better, discusses the problem with laptop calculators, a surprising use for uncommonly bad tools, and what we all can do to stop stock photos from ruining the internet… all while introducing us to some terrific cool tools. — Read the rest
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The very fact that you are reading this sentence, contemplating whether you want to listen to this podcast, means that you are living out a fantasy from a previous generation's cyberpunk novel. — Read the rest
"[T]here are some interesting differences in the psychologies of making vs. fixing. I've found it's easier to be daring with fixer projects, because the emotional cost of failure is lower. If I've got a busted laptop, why not crack it open? — Read the rest
Our friend Clive Thompson is in the spotlight in this week's "This is How I Work" feature on Lifehacker.
— Read the rest
What apps/software/tools can't you live without?
I'm a pack rat when it comes to research. I like to save everything, because you never know when it'll be useful.
[Video Link] When I was at TED2011 I interviewed writer Clive Thompson about what he calls "the best sharpener I've ever used in my life," the Palomino-KUM Long Point Pencil Sharpener.
UPDATE: Here's Andy Wefle of Pencils.com with a video that shows you how to use the sharpener.
Wired writer Clive Thompson appears on ABC News to explain why he thinks horror video games are scarier than horror movies. He says having a bit of control over the outcome makes the experience more frightening. Link
Clive Thompson says that there are three principal biases that today's digital tools introduce to human thought.
When I was a kid, I briefly had a friend who built the first computer I ever saw. I long ago forgot the friend's name, but I remember the name he gave the computer: Laurie (after Laurie Partridge, natch). It had one simple Star Trek game that somehow involved acquiring and shooting photon torpedoes. — Read the rest
After two Boeing whistleblowers mysteriously died within weeks of each other, Boeing planes continue to fall apart. One of the latest Boeing disasters — of at least three this week — happened last night when a Boeing 737 with 85 people on board skidded on a Senegal runway and caught fire before it even took off. — Read the rest
Last year, I rounded up all of the jargon and slang I wrote about in my weekly maker tips newsletter and posted them here on Boing Boing. Below is this year's list.
These aren't necessarily new terms, some are very old, basic, and well known. — Read the rest
Years ago, artist John Bergin and I pitched Black Library (the novel, audio, and art books division of Games Workshop) on an idea for an Emperor's Tarot. In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, there's a deck of cards, called the Emperor's Tarot, that is sometimes mentioned in the rulebooks and the plentiful fiction. — Read the rest
Do not taunt the philodendron. David Bowen attached three sensors to its leaves to measure the electrical resistance between them. When the system detects a change, it sends a signal to the plan's robotic arm to start slashing the machete it's holding. — Read the rest
Boing Boing contributor Clive Thompson has a specialty search engine which allows you to search on public domain books published prior to 1924.
Clive is a big proponent of "rewilding" our attention and offers serendipity searches into weird old books as part of that noble effort. — Read the rest
On his Etsy shop, AzzamBells sells the MPA 019, a fully analog "horror cinematic noise generator." It has metal rods, a prong that emits an eerie tone when stroked with a violin bow, and something that looks like a cymbal cut into a weird shape. — Read the rest
Clive Thompson, our friend and frequent Boing Boing contributor, recently took his 2010 Hyundai Elantra into the service station to repair the air conditioner. He told the service rep to also disconnect the car alarm, because it had been randomly going off. — Read the rest
Multimedia artist Kelly Heaton creates analog electronic sculptures "that are reminiscent of birdsong, musical insects, and spiritual apparitions." Below is a "Printed Circuit Bird (Bluejay)" whose song is manipulated by adjusting the numerous knobs on the bird's body.
"You can think of this like adjusting neurons in a bird's brain to alter the impulse by which it vocalizes," Heaton says. — Read the rest
The Em Dash—often now incarnated without spaces—is a hallmark of modern online writing. To some [weasel words] it's become the semicolon of the 21st century, a reckless and overused item of punctuation that signals an author of imprecise and formless prose. — Read the rest
What a delightful thing Clive Thompson (one of Boing Boing's regular contributors) has created! It's called Weird Old Books, and it is a search engine that returns one pre-1927 book based on your search term.
He wrote about it on Medium:
— Read the restWhen I first starting crafting this, I had two design specs:
1) Immediate access
I wanted a tool that would only find you books in the public domain.
When he created the free game Wordle, Josh Wardle got six things right, writes Clive Thompson in his Medium column. These six things can be described as design principles for just about any creative endeavor:
1) You don't need to reinvent the wheel
2) Making something as a gift is a powerful motivation
3) Make things for an audience of one
4) Observe what your fans are doing
5) Forget the app store: Make stuff on the open web
6) Engineer for occasional use, not for addiction
From Clive's column:
— Read the restBrooklyn-based software developer Josh Wardle created it last year as a gift for his partner, who was obsessed with word games like the New York Times' "Spelling Bee".
