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Homer Simpson X-Ray Used in Medical Article in Chinese News

Take a look at this article from China View, the English-language site run by China’s official Xinhua News Agency and pay particular attention to the accompanying photo:

Small screenshot of China View article featuring Homer Simpson’s head x-ray
Click the screenshot to see it at full size.

What’s happening here? I’ll let Computerworld explain:

The article, which appeared on China’s official Xinhua News Agency’s English news site on Monday, displays text about a new genetic discovery relating to MS, attributed to “agencies.” Alongside is an x-ray rendering of the diminutive brain of the cartoon character Homer Simpson, attributed as a “file photo.”

This isn’t the first time Chinese media has fallen prey to satire presented to an English-language audience. In 2002, the Beijing Evening News (Beijing Wan Bao) picked up an article from humor site The Onion, stating that the U.S. Congress had threatened to move out of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., unless the building were upgraded to include a retractable dome. The newspaper also ran a drawing The Onion had published of the fictional new roof design.

Both online and print media in China routinely use photos downloaded or scanned from other sources without proper attribution or copyright permission.

I can understand how it’s possible that someone at China View might not known enough North American cultural folderol under their belt to recognize Homer Simpson, but wouldn’t whoever incuded the x-ray image have thought that it looked a little odd? I suppose it’s possible that he or she thought it was a diagram in the style of Asian electronics instruction manuals, which are full of cartoony characters.

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Google Directions Now Include a Rush Hour Estimate

Many lanes of traffic

It may be a small addition, but it’s a useful one. You know how Google Maps directions give you an estimate of how long your trip will take? They now include an additional estimate: how long your trip will take in traffic.

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Using the FacebookRestClient Class’ “Event” Methods, Part 2

Facebook developer wiki logoHey, budding Facebook developers! I’ve got another installment of my series of articles on Facebook development: Using the FacebookRestClient Class’ “Event” Methods, Part 2.

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Seven Lessons from Intuit

Cover of the book “Inside Intuit”Patrick “Fitzblog” Fitzsimmons has been reading Inside Intuit and has come up with Seven Startup Lessons from Intuit (which could be applied to any business, not just startups):

  1. Business skills and technical skills are equally important.
  2. Learn from non-technology businesses.
  3. Your competitor is not other companies, but the way that things are done now.
  4. Talk to as many potential customers as you can, from the very beginning.
  5. Focus your product on the absolute essential user needs.
  6. Even future billion dollar companies will teeter on the brink of defeat.
  7. Do right by your customers.

The article has this list, with each point explained in more detail.

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Using the FacebookRestClient Class’ “Event” Methods, Part 1

Woman at vintage computer with 8-inch floppy labelled 'Facebook'

Over at the Tucows Developer Blog, I’ve posted another Facebook development article: Using the FacebookRestClient Class’ “Event” Methods, Part 1, in which I look at the events_get method of the PHP FacebookRestClient class.

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Facebook Down; Cries of Anguish Everywhere

Old Ben Kenobi (the Alec Guinness version)

“I felt a great disturbance in the force,” goes Obi-Wan Kenobi’s line from Star Wars: A New Hope, “As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror. Then were suddenly silenced.”

If you just heard those voices, here’s why: as of this writing, Facebook is “temporarily unavailable”. And just when I’m testing out the code for part two of the tutorial article series I’m working on…

“Facebook is temporarily unavailable” screenshot

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iPhone + Travel = Expensive

iPhone + travel = expensive

Here’s a story contributed by Dave Stolte who wrote in to BoingBoing:

I have a caveat emptor to top them all. I purchased an iPhone on opening day to use in lieu of a cumbersome laptop while traveling in Ireland and England for two weeks in early July. AT&T promises “easy, affordable, and convenient plans” in their advertising… turns out I got two out of three.

On the way to the airport, I activated the per-use international roaming data plan – the only one offered to me. The rep quoted me $.005 per KB but did not disclose what that would translate to in layman’s language (i.e., X amount per e-mail, X amount per web page, etc.). I’m a web developer as part of my career and I couldn’t even tell you how many KB the average web page is, no less a text message to my son, an e-mail with a photo to my mother, or a quick check of Google Maps. That’s part one of the trap. However, I now pay $40 per month for unlimited data usage on the iPhone, so really — how much could it be? $100 at the most, right?

Keep reading.

As we know, the iPhone can’t be unlocked to use a European provider’s SIM card for more reasonable rates while traveling. There’s part two of the trap.

To be safe, I went online to My Account at AT&T a couple days into the trip and again a week later and was told “usage data is currently unavailable”… and that’s part three. I had no way of knowing specific usage data until I received my bill over the last weekend.

A bill for $3000.

There’s more — click here for the full story.