Friday’s Recommended Reads

Some recent saved favorites from Pocket:

23andMe revealed a condition it took my doctors six years to diagnose: The FDA claims it halted the sale of 23andMe‘s flagship Personal Genome Service (PGS) kit due to concerns over its validity and the possibility that clients may suffer from mental anguish when faced with the possibility that their genetic code puts them at risk of serious diseases. – by Search results – http://qz.com/151817/23andme-revealed-a-condition-it-took-my-doctors-six-years-to-diagnose/

Who Will Own The Next Great Instant Messaging Service?: Instant messaging is the center of the internet. Everything else is a temporary distraction. The case for this is strong: Every company that has ruled the internet in the last 20 years — even for a short period — has had a dominant instant messaging service. – by John Herrman – http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/who-will-own-the-next-great-instant-messaging-service

The internet mystery that has the world baffled: For the past two years, a mysterious online organisation has been setting the world’s finest code-breakers a series of seemingly unsolveable problems. – by Chris Bell – Tags: cicada 3301, cryptology, cia, mi6, darknet, dark web, 4chan, anonymous , Internet,Technology – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10468112/The-internet-mystery-that-has-the-world-baffled.html

The Period, Our Simplest Punctuation Mark, Has Become a Sign of Anger: The period was always the humblest of punctuation marks. Recently, however, it’s started getting angry. I’ve noticed it in my text messages and online chats, where people use the period not simply to conclude a sentence, but to announce “I am not happy about the sentence I just concluded. – by BEN CRAIR – Tags: Language, Culture, Language, Punctuation, Grammar, Text Messaging, Online Chat, Periods – http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115726/period-our-simplest-punctuation-mark-has-become-sign-anger

Solving the Neural Code Conundrum: Digital or Analog?: One of the great debates in neuroscience is how neurons encode information that is sent to and from the brain. At issue is whether the information is sent in digital or analog form or indeed whether the brain can process both at the same time. – http://www.technologyreview.com/view/522066/solving-the-neural-code-conundrum-digital-or-analog/

The $299 Blu Life Pro is aimed at the selfie set with a 5-megapixel front cam: When we first spotted the decently spec’d Blu Life series, it seemed like a nice Android handset option for folks on a budget. However, the times they have a-changed, and the former KIRF company’s latest device, the Blu Life Pro, is now looking decidedly less cheap. – by Steve Dent – http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/27/blu-phone-pro-5-megapixel-front-camera-299/

Android is Eating the World: Benedict Evans has a must read slide deck from his mobile is eating the world presentation. I’m going to piggyback on his title a little and tackle the narrative that Android is eating the world. – by Ben Bajarin – http://techpinions.com/android-is-eating-the-world/25276

Nike FuelBand SE review: more social features, much longer battery life: Nike’s new FuelBand is now out, and following a few weeks of running in parks, walking around exhibition halls and the occasional all-out exercise session, well, I’m pretty tired. Fortunately, I only needed to charge Nike’s new wearable once in my first eight days of use. – by Mat Smith – http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/27/nike-fuelband-se-review/

Nike FuelBand: Did the Brand Score a Goal?: Nike’s FuelBand activity tracker is one of the company’s hottest sellers ever. Not only did the product sell out online pre-orders in one day twice, but at one point the eBay price was double the suggested retail price. – http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/nike-fuelband-band-brand-strike-goal/

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