Most of the smartphone boom has been powered by ARM’s processor architectures (whoo! UK based company!).

Apple have been acquiring processor architecture talent and deals with ARM, which is just starting to really pay off with the iPhone 5. This is one of the edges Apple has over other smartphone makers.

And I think processor architecture is super interesting. When you look at a computer, it starts off pretty simple. (e.g. hit keys and letters appear on the screen) As you look at it deeper, it gets more and more complex, until you get to the processor. This is where the complexity starts to unravel, and you discover simple logic circuits doing simple things.

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This is an article about them from 1997, about their origins.

Daft Punk have a reputation for being difficult that would shame Dave Clarke. They won’t have their photograph taken unless their faces are obscured. They ooze a bored hauteur onstage, barely moving, never smiling. They stormed out of a press conference at the prestigious Transmusicalles festival when someone asked them a “stupid” question. They sat in attitude-laden silence on the Heavenly Social tour bus, while the Chemicals and co got wasted and auctioned off pills. Another magazine described them as “surly”. Their press officer tells me their last interviewer gave up and went home after 20 minutes of blank stares and monosyllabic answers.

Eventually, they settle on clown masks with protuberant red noses. They look at each other… and burst out laughing.

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Pretty good, basic guide to the current (four!) different Batman comics. DC rebooted all their comics last year (September? 2011) and this summarizes how the comics featuring Batman as the main character fit together.

However, it seems they all exist in the same timeline/universe, so I’m not sure how well they cross over.

I’ve been reading older Batman comics for about a year, and I’m eager to get into reading the current ones, but the number of them to choose from has made it hard to get started.

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This is sad news about Apple’s retail stores. The thing that’s fascinating about Apple is their dedication to being great. I can’t help believing they’re getting it wrong here.

The Apple stores are so successful in terms of revenue, but don’t get that good margins (i.e. they spend a lot on the stores and staff). Maybe the costs have gotten a bit silly, and all we’re seeing is self-control. But surely the retail stores do more than sell directly. Their presence improves Apple’s image and provides a contact-point for any potential customer, regardless of whether they actually make the purchase elsewhere or online. How many purchases have been made outside the retail stores, but because of the retail stores?

It’s also hard to feel excited when the new guy in charge of Apple retail is he previous head of Dixons (and Currys and PC World). Who is well served by going to those shops?!

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A 17 year old black teenager in London says he’s been stopped-and-searched without cause fifty times since he was 14, and that on a number of occasions this has included bullshit charges (later dropped), wild accusations, strip searches, and detention in police cells. None of these stops has led to a conviction.

The last time he ended up in court with PC John Lovegrove accusing the teenager of assaulting him during a stop-and-search. The case fell apart when CCTV footage showed no such thing happened.

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