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Showing posts from October, 2014

The Best Infographics of 2014

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Existential Calculator Over at Brain Pickings they are featuring a few examples from the newly released, Best Infographics of 2014 . Why study infographics? Do you want to decide whether or not to take a job? Use the Existential Calculator (see graphic). "It organizes the spectrum of possible work outcomes—from pleasurable to spiritually degrading, from well-paying to debt-enhancing, from exciting to 'meh'—and shows where the reader is likely to land, based on what they tell it about the potential job.'" (Kelli Andersom)  Some of the other graphics to linger over are the fears of a cat wandering through San Francisco (LOL, some of those fears resemble my own). Brain Pickings' post mentions one of my favorite creators and chart busters, Edward Tufte, noting that: "Tufte and others have long spoken to the importance of minimalism in information design. But it proved to be more important as design was translated onto the web, where atten

National Cyber Security Month

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There is a month for everything, including Cyber Security. The infographic produced by SingleHop  posits some interesting myths, especially "the internet is so big no one would pick on me," and "there isn't anything worth stealing on my computer." Oh, yeah? The Telegraph just ran an article about this very same issue, entitled "How Hackers Took Over My Computer."  A test subject asked an "ethical hacker" to see what kind of harm they could do if they were unethical. The subject stated that she had "high security" ratings on social media accounts, but here's what happened: Hackers discovered the subject's personal stats ( birth date and  family members) via a popular online ancestry website. Twitter offered up the subject's work email address. Recent locations subject visited were available through Facebook LinkedIn disclosed workplace data  But why do hackers want to know this information? To g

You Know You Need to Kill Your Cell Phone If . . .

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So you're driving through Hollywood somewhere and spot Kirsten Dunst of Spiderman fame - what do you do? Do you stop, jump out your car, and take a selfie? Well, that's just what happened in this short film. Think this is just a bit of exaggeration? I doubt it. But that's not the only sign that you are addicted to your cell phone. You know you need to kill your cell phone if . . . you have ever run into a pole (or any other large item) while texting. you can't remember how to write with a pen or pencil anymore and find yourself just taking pictures of the notes on the board. feel an event didn't happen unless you take a bazillion selfies on your phone while attending. can't make it through a family meal (or any meal for that matter) without picking up your phone. can feel your phone vibrating inside your pocket when it is in your purse or backpack. can't handle not being able to see your cell phone 24-hours a day because it causes you menta