Hello Verizon - We are definately home!

The Wright brothers' first priority was to patent their airplane, and they duly received their patent in 1904. It didn't just cover their specific design, but the whole concept of three-axis control - being able to independently steer the aircraft in pitch, roll, and yaw - that was critical to powered flight. This patent became a mighty weapon that the Wright brothers used for the next thirteen years to sue the bejesus out of anyone else who tried to fly an airplane.

It may not have been a problem if the Wrights themselves had kept working on aircraft design, or if the original flyer had been good enough to license. But neither was the case - the Wrights became so consumed with their lawsuits that they had no time or energy left for further work, essentially becoming the SCO of the early aviation age. And their airplane design, while innovative, was mostly innovative in the wrong ways.

100 Years Of Turbulence

The funny thing about Starbucks is it's helped to create a coffee culture filled with a significant number of people who don't actually like Starbucks—which means that, despite conventional wisdom, it's actually a good thing to be a mom & pop coffee shop with a Starbucks nearby, writes Slate. Instead of stealing your business, you get the spillover from their store. "They'll do all of your marketing for you, and your sales will soar."

That's certainly how it worked out for Hyman. Soon after declining Starbucks's buyout offer, Hyman received the expected news that the company was opening up next to one of his stores. But instead of panicking, he decided to call his friend Jim Stewart, founder of the Seattle's Best Coffee chain, to find out what really happens when a Starbucks opens nearby. "You're going to love it," Stewart reported. "They'll do all of your marketing for you, and your sales will soar." The prediction came true: Each new Starbucks store created a local buzz, drawing new converts to the latte-drinking fold. When the lines at Starbucks grew beyond the point of reason, these converts started venturing out--and, Look! There was another coffeehouse right next-door! Hyman's new neighbor boosted his sales so much that he decided to turn the tactic around and start targeting Starbucks. "We bought a Chinese restaurant right next to one of their stores and converted it, and by God, it was doing $1 million a year right away," he said.

We've noticed that Starbucks has had another "positive" effect on the coffee house industry—it's trained consumers to willingly pay over $1.50 for a cuppa joe no matter where they're buying it. Maybe this is why "Just over the five-year period from 2000 to 2005... the number of mom and pops grew 40 percent, from 9,800 to nearly 14,000 coffeehouses," and "the failure rate for new coffeehouses is a mere 10 percent."

From Slate via Consumerist

Little Coffee Shops Need Not Fear Starbucks

Via Wired

Photos of Chinese Factories

There is a Shell station in San Francisco, at Sixth and Harrison, that was recently charging $4.33 a gallon for regular gas and $4.43 for premium. Across the street is a Chevron station that charges about 70 cents less per gallon. Can you guess why?

Freakonomics: Why Is This Man Charging $4.30 for a Gallon of Gas?

This gent sent a digital camera through the mail with a small hole in the package where it recorded over 6000 frames. A time lapse sample after the jump.

Mailing a Time Lapse Camera through the Post Office

Consumerist is carrying this lovely photo of the junk inside that paper bag of microwave popcorn. Hmm. Anyone want to cut open a Jiffy Pop?

Now I'm glad I have an airpopper (and a non-LAN power circuit for it ).

Inside A Bag Of Microwave Popcorn