onfocus

"Cities cannot 'come to the end of their patience' because they’re not people. Mayors and local officials can come to the end of their patience. So can cops. But cities?" Analyzing and comparing the coverage of Occupy Oakland violence with Kent State coverage. [via bluishorange]

It's not a great idea, but if you want to write a regular expression to define a numeric range, this tool makes it easier than doing it by hand.

Andy put together a handy list of geeky Portland spots. Wish I could be up there for ROFLcon tomorrow.

A great blog about futures past has moved to the Smithsonian Magazine. Seems like a good fit.

huh, Corvallis has the largest percentage of bicycle commuters in the country.

"So, my hypothesis is that IAMA [I am a...] and AMA [ask me anything] are an important type of citizen journalism. Call it 'community journalism.'" TIL (today I learned...) is also a nice convention. [via waxy]

This command line browser that can run JavaScript looks handy for testing web apps.

"If you’re into experimentation, manual focus lenses, or just enjoy 'vintage' gear, at around $50 it is a bargain..." Nice review of an old 50mm Soviet lens. eBay, activate!

Why "Love it or leave it!" isn't a valid response to criticism of social networks.

Deconstructing the new Gmail/G+ interface for design ideas.

ok, it's 2011. No site is perfect, but it probably is time to shame sites that store plain text passwords. Especially those sites from big companies with the means to change things.

Dear media, please give Andy Rutledge complete control over the design of your sites. Thanks.

Best take on Google+ so far. And the Media. And the Books.

Fun concept piece. It'd be nice to see this as a Kickstarter project someday.

Disappointing exchange, and a textbook example of how not to respond to critics online. Like Derek I'm a huge fan of On the Media so, ugh.

The Internet Archive is now archiving physical books. "Brewster noticed that Google and Amazon and other countries scanning books would cut non-rare books open to scan them, or toss them out after scanning. He felt this destruction was dangerous for the culture."

"Buzzwords are frequently used in news media. These are words that do not typically occur in everyday speech, but are common among newscasters, talking heads, and pundits on cable news." Often misused, this site collect media buzzwords and provides the real definition.

"What would a Business Class news site look like?" Great question.

A few ideas that could reduce the friction of signing up/in.

"Metafilter moderator Josh Millard talks to Brooke about what you do when a celebrity joins your website anonymously in order to attack his critics." Great interview with Josh on one of my favorite radio shows.

"The last thing fans of these programmes want is to be confronted with the cruel reality of what life was like in late Victorian and Edwardian England..."