Links

Infographic of Star Wars Episode IV

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away… is surprisingly just as thrilling in an infographic as it is on the big screen.

Maritn Panchaud spent over 1000 hours in Adobe Illustrator CC to produce an infographic of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

One story in one piece of 123 meters length. An adaptation of Star Wars Episode IV in a style that was inspired by infographics.

High praise from Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker himself:

This is absolutely STUNNING! 1st time I’ve”watched” StarWars since the ’97 SpecialEdition & well worth it! GR8Job

Empire Strikes Back is in progress…

“The Bullshit Web”

Wow – such a great and thoughtful read.

An actual solution recognizes that this bullshit is inexcusable. It is making the web a cumulatively awful place to be. Behind closed doors, those in the advertising and marketing industry can be pretty lucid about how much they also hate surveillance scripts and how awful they find these methods, while simultaneously encouraging their use. Meanwhile, users are increasingly taking matters into their own hands — the use of ad blockers is rising across the board, many of which also block tracking scripts and other disrespectful behaviours. Users are making that choice.

They shouldn’t have to. Better choices should be made by web developers to not ship this bullshit in the first place. We wouldn’t tolerate such intrusive behaviour more generally; why are we expected to find it acceptable on the web?

An honest web is one in which the overwhelming majority of the code and assets downloaded to a user’s computer are used in a page’s visual presentation, with nearly all the remainder used to define the semantic structure and associated metadata on the page. Bullshit — in the form of CPU-sucking surveillance, unnecessarily-interruptive elements, and behaviours that nobody responsible for a website would themselves find appealing as a visitor — is unwelcome and intolerable.

Death to the bullshit web.

The End of Windows

Ben Thompson:

What is more interesting, though, is the story of Windows’ decline in Redmond, culminating with last week’s reorganization that, for the first time since 1980, left the company without a division devoted to personal computer operating systems (Windows was split, with the core engineering group placed under Azure, and the rest of the organization effectively under Office 365; there will still be Windows releases, but it is no longer a standalone business).

My week is already off to an amazing start with this article. I lived through this timeline; I was there and I was a part of it. What a time to be alive!

The Tudor Black Bay GMT

Whoa. I had a feeling that new Rolex GMT’s were going to be introduced this year at Baselworld 2018, but I had no idea Tudor would do the same.

For me, the Rolex GMT (particularly the 16710) occupies one-half of my watch holy grail. That is to say that this watch, combined with another, make up the center pieces and collecting goals of my watch obsession. I have one of those, which is an original Rolex Submariner date ceramic. Now the other might be replaced by the all new Tudor Black Bay GMT. I have been drawn to that two-tone, red / blue color combination ever since I became serious about watches. It started with my first “real” watch purchase: a Japanese domestic market Seiko SKX-009J1. The problem I have had is finding a quality Rolex 16710 on the secondary market at the right price. The 2nd hand and vintage watch markets have been out of control for the past few years. Which is a good thing! But every day, it prices us mere mortals out of the market one dollar at a time.

These 2 new GMT’s from Rolex and Tudor fix that to some degree. The Rolex, which cost prohibitive, is now going to have catalogue and somewhat limited dealer availability similar to the Rolex BLNR GMT (the Batman). There will be a strong grey-market presence too. While I think I prefer the matte bezel for the GMT, it’s now an option (albeit an expensive one) to buy a new and truly modern two-tone red / blue GMT with all of the watchmaking technology and manufacturing advances that make my Submariner one of the best and most watches in the world.

Enter the Tudor GMT. Low cost point? Check. Red / blue matte GMT bezel? Check. Rolex manufacturing & QC? Check. Size and wrist presence? Ruh-roh…

My problem with the modern Tudor line is the meaty-ness of the case. The Black Bay line and the Submariner *I believe* are the same thickness. The modern sub is significantly more thicker than the modern GMT. Yet Rolex skirts any wrist presence issue by having a case back that graduates the slope thickness from the center point to the edge of the watch case. Tudor does not do this. I was also interested in the Black Bay Chronograph last year, but was not immediately thrilled by it’s wrist presence. When the Tudor GMT is released later this year, I’ll need to properly put it through a few wrist checks at the dealer before I commit.

Here is Hodinkee’s First Take video on the new Tudor Black Bay GMT.