More quick links

More of what caught my attention lately:

• The overwhelming majority of smartphone users set up their phone once, then barely ever download a new app again ([1] [2])
  
  
• Cool and successful use of speculative execution in cloud computing for games, trading off extra CPU and bandwidth for the ability to hide network latency ([1])
  
  
• Infrared vision on your phone ([1] [2])
  
  
• How easy is it to get people to memorize hard-to-crack random 56-bit passwords, equivalent to about 12 random letters or 6 words? ([1] [2])
  
  
• Desalination needs warm water, data centers need to be cooled, why not put them together? Clever idea. ([1])
  
  
• It's easy to overhype this, but it's still pretty cool, transmitting data (0 and 1 bits) directly brain-to-brain without implants (using magnetic stimulation of the brain and EEG reading of the brain, both from the surface of the scalp) with relatively low error rates (5-15%). Data rates are extremely low at 2-3 bits/minute, but it's still interesting that it's possible at all. ([1])
  
  
• Xiaomi's remarkable iPhone clone ([1])
  
  
• Has Amazon sold less than 35k Fire phones? ([1] [2])
  
  
• Facebook publishes a paper which details how its ad targeting works and suggests they will be doing more personalization in the future ([1] [2])
  
  
• "Having a multiyear project with no checks along the way and the promise of one big outcome is not a highly successful approach, in or outside government" ([1] [2])
  
  
• More evidence patent trolls cause real harm. Trolled firms "dramatically reduce R&D spending". ([1])
  
  
• "Using nothing more than a laptop ... [they could] alter the normal timing pattern of the [traffic] lights, turning all the lights along a given route green, for instance, or freezing an intersection with all reds" ([1])
  
  
• Interesting data visualization showing how CD took over in music sales, then got replaced by downloads, all over the last two decades or so ([1])
  
  
• Neat charts on how the strike zone expands on 3 ball counts and contracts on 2 strike counts ([1])
  
  
• Cute SMBC comic on "What is the fastest animal?" ([1])
  
  
• Great SMBC comic on job interviews ([1])