My problem is that I have been persecuted by an integer. For seven years this number has followed me around, has intruded in my most private data, and has assaulted me from the pages of our most public journals. This number assumes a variety of disguises, being sometimes a little larger and sometimes a little smaller than usual, but never changing so much as to be unrecognizable. The persistence with which this number plagues me is far more than a random accident.

I was sure I'd already blogged this, but I couldn't locate it, so here it is (perhaps again).

The Magical Number Seven

It's a seven-by-seven array of flat-panel displays -- due to results presented in George Miller’s 1956 paper, "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two."

Hyperwall: A Giant Visualization Spreadsheet

You are selected to wear the watch for two weeks. The watch takes a four-second "fingerprint" of ambient sound every minute. At the end, the watch is returned and the fingerprints are matched to determine exactly what you watched and listened to.

The software behind this system appears similar to that of Shazam, which Tom blogged in early November.

Tracking Moves Offline

At least two biologists in the group that is discussing the experiment said they believed that it was premature or unethical and could stir policy makers to limit further stem cell research or ban it.

Stem Cell Mixing May Form a Human-Mouse Hybrid

Decius wrote:
] ] "Our grand reopening is planned for Nov 30th, 2002."
]
] Some streams are available now... :)

And now, we must give thanks where thanks is due ...

SomaFM is back on the 'air'

] "The most mundane tasks -- the ones that actually bore
] the hell out of you in reality -- come at you in the
] computer game with relentless insistence, and if you are
] going to be a happy Sim, master of your tract home, lord
] of your lawn, sultan of your suburb, you have to get
] organized. You have to impose order on chaos. You have to
] stay cool and go with the flow. In this way you can
] achieve split-level greatness."

David Brooks, of the Weekly Standard, writes about The Sims in the November 24 issue of the New York Times Magazine.

Oversimulated Suburbia

A Sunday NYT article provides URLs for several "switch" parodies, including the switch-to-Canada ad discussed here recently.

Apple's Quirky Ads Evoke Parodies of Themselves

Despite its absurd moments, "Prey" is irresistibly suspenseful. You're entertained on one level and you learn something on another, even if the two levels do ultimately diverge.

A columnist for Slate reviews Michael Crichton's latest for NYT. You can read the first chapter online. (The book goes on sale Monday, November 25.)

'Prey': Attack of the Nanoswarms

The Jewells are small players in the great New Jersey telecom crash that has ravaged one of the state's leading industries, leaving thousands of highly skilled workers jobless or underemployed.

Breakdown in Communications

Rattle wrote:
] ] Authorities say a teenager told them a video game about
] ] stealing cars inspired an auto theft spree involving
] ] about 100 vehicles.
] ]
] ] Nineteen-year-old Micah Zoerner of Somers, Wisconsin is
] ] charged with numerous counts of theft, burglary and auto
] ] theft. He's being held in lieu of a 15-thousand dollar
] ] cash bond.
] ]
] ] Detectives say he told them he'd been inspired by the
] ] video game "Grand Theft Auto."
]
] I love GTA4.

Actually, it's called "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City". At least, I think that's what you and Micah are referring to.

Surely he wasn't inspired by the very first Grand Theft Auto!

To refresh our collective memory, I've linked here to a retrospective on Grand Theft Auto. The ign.com web site is very slow for me right now, but the article is worth a read if you're into the GTA series. This article was published back in September in anticipation of the release of "Vice City."

Enjoy.

A Retrospective on Grand Theft Auto