pogueman

I've been carrying around the iPhone 5s Apple loaned me to review, but now I have to ship it back. My own iPhone 4s is due for replacement (yes, I'm on a 2-year contract just like everyone else), and I'm mulling what to replace it with!

There are examples all around us! Just look at Nest, whose Internet-connected, intelligent thermostat shook up the thermostat business (which hadn't changed in 50 years)! Now they're introducing a smoke alarm that will have the same effect!

We have much farther to go with cars/traffic/transportation. With groceries. With customized clothing shopping online. We're at the Commodore 64 era with those!

Wow, that is a WEIRD story!

They had this grant to make a miniseries about materials science. Yeah, THAT'S a great topic for a TV show! Everyone thought it'd be dry as dust.

So they hired this genius outside producer, Chris Schmidt, to come up with a concept. His idea: (a) have a host (NOVA doesn't usually have hosts). (b) Pick a non-scientist host, someone who's curious and funny and represents the viewer. (c) immerse him in extreme situations--hang gliding, swimming with sharks, pouring gold--to illustrate the science.

For a reason that mystifies and delights me to this day, he and the head of NOVA both thought of me simultaneously!

Cool question! I'm a hardcore Google Voice user, so that link is first on my bookmarks bar. (That's where I can read--yes, READ--my voicemails. And send and receive texts. From the laptop.)

I also tune daily into NY Times, Facebook, Techmeme, and my local town news site, westportnow.com.

I can honestly say I never realized that.