How am I tweeting?

NewTwitterAnalytics  offers answers. Almost every business has a Twitter account, but many fail to take full advantage of Twitter's many add-on tools. What's holding them back?
Perhaps it's just a matter of not knowing how to measure their impact and figure out how the tools contribute to their goals. Twitter solves that problem with its new Analytics for Twitter Cards service.  Read more in

Twitter Analytics Puts Cards on the Table

What were you hired for?

This is my rejoinder to "Don't ask me to think. I was hired for my looks."

British slang

from http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g186364-d213579-Reviews-Police_Box-Sheffield_South_Yorkshire_England.html

The list of terms is at http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml. 

I've picked up some British slang just from context. So this wasn't all new to me, though there were a few surprises, particularly the compilers' own perception of of American usage, perhaps that's due to limited exposure to some friends who are not familiar with all expressions.

What  could have been left out

I never thought of DIY as a British term; it's one Americans use regularly.

Also most Americans (apparently, excluding the friends of the compiler) understand that "piece of cake" means  that something is easy, though some, for some reason prefer the term "cake walk." You could also say "easy as pie" here, though I don't know if they would get the gist of that over the pond. . 

We also say "haggle" and are not too likely to say"dicker." 
Also Americans tend to say "excuse me" both for things like burping and to suggest that someone move out of their way far more often than "pardon me," so the distinctions the list presents are not exactly accurate. 
Oh, and some of us do use the -ly ending for adverbs, thank you very much!

What  could have been included
terms like "brill" is mentioned in passing, though it doesn't have its own entry. It could have been included because the word "brilliant" does have different connotation in British usage than in American usage. Over here, people use it primarily to mean really smart but not as the equivalent of "terrific."


Other regional differences? 
Perhaps it has something to do with focusing on strictly English slang rather than some that may extend to other parts of the UK.  Here's  the entry on "cracking"  -"If something is cracking, it means it is the best. Usually said without pronouncing the last "G". If a girl is cracking it means she is stunning."  From what I recall there's another slang meaning for "crack," though that may be more strictly speaking Irish usage. It appeared several times in a novel I once read and clearly meant talk, chat, of the variety one expects to have in a pub. 

Still it's an entertaining read. 

Photoshop in 3D

We may not yet have the Star Trek "replicator," but we're coming pretty close to wonders with recent advances in 3D printing. It's no wonder that Adobe sees this as the right time to introduce 3D printing capabilities to its Creative Cloud."

No longer limited to hobbyists printing out plastic shapes, 3D printing can now be used to produce ceramics and metals, increasing its functionality for engineers as well as artists. TheCES show in early January had 28 exhibitors for 3D printing. This past October, Gartner predicted rapid growth for 3D printers, anticipating that this year "spending will increase 62 percent, reaching $669 million, with enterprise spending of $536 million and consumer spending of $133 million."

That's a substantial enough amount to attract the likes of Adobe, which announced its foray into the 3D printing industry on January 16 with the new release of Photoshop CC.

Read more in

3D Printing From Adobe's Cloud

Oh the places you'll go and the stories your can can tell about htem

The main problem with the current state of in-car, location-based services is that they aren't required to notify consumers. It's possible that some motorists are completely unaware of who uses their location data, and how. Also, for four out of the six automakers, customers do not have the option to request that their historical data be erased. (The "right to be forgotten" is included in the EU’s data protection laws and recommended by the GAO.) Read more in 

In-Car Tracking: We Know Where You've Been

3D printing brings the stars to the blind

Discussions of big data often touch on the challenge of visualization. An even greater challenge, though, is rendering the data into something that is comprehensible to people who have to use senses other than sight.

3D printing brings the stars to the visually impaired by rendering Hubble's images into tactile form.
Read more in 

Reaching for the Stars With 3D Printing

Keeping your identity

Clones, robots, alien shapeshifters, or disembodied consciousness take over people's identities in shows such as Star Trek and Doctor Who. They can then take over the lives of the people they've duplicated, particularly when they have access to their memories. How can anyone defend himself when he can't tell friend from foe?

In real life, most of us don't fear having someone else show up in person claiming to be us. But we are concerned about identity theft. Our digital world makes it all too easy for the bad guys to hack into personal information posted online, as well as financial information that we can think is secure. The cost of identity theft can be huge when hackers get access to our credit cards, debit cards, and bank accounts.

Read more in Your Personal Online Guardian