The Principality of Sealand is a small sea fort, ten kilometers from the coast of England that claims itself to be an independent sovereign state. Frank Jacobs took a look at the history of the micronation, highlights include:

• At one point Sealand sold titles such as “Lord” and “Lady” online for as little as £29.99
• Wikileaks considered moving its servers there to protect itself from legal action.
• A German tried to lead a coup and take over while the Prince and Princess were away on business. He was captured creating a minor diplomatic incident. England refused to get involved since it was outside its territory and Germany was forced to send an emissary to retrieve its citizen. Sealand took the visit by a German diplomat as a sign of recognition of its sovereignty.
• The current ruling Prince and Princess have retired to Spain. The nation is overseen by a caretaker.

To read more about how the United Nations made things difficult for Sealand, how the Prince retook his country after the coup attempt against him, and how the nation started off as a platform for a pirate radio, click here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Marginal Revolution

In a wide-ranging and well written article that explores several facets of the company and its recent somewhat disturbing policies, Mat Honan’s presentation of the case against Google includes:

• Google has become a fundamentally different company than the trustworthy one that could be relied upon just 18 months ago.
• Part of the transformation is because Google wants to deliver personalized search results. For that it needs information about your friends, your family, your finances, your preferences, what you like to watch, where you like to eat and even information about the local events around you.
• Facebook did for people finding what Google did for internet finding: return what’s most relevant. If you type in a friend’s name into Facebook you’ll likely find who you’re looking for. Not so with Google.
• Google’s motto is ‘Don’t be Evil’ and the company once argued that one example of becoming evil would be to serve advertisements without making it clear that they are just ads not legitimate or relevant results. The way Google is advertising its products such as Google Plus in general searches falls foul of that policy and would make Google, under its own definition, evil.
• Google no longer considers search to be a core product. The only product is Google itself.

To read a list of some of the surprising practices that Google has engaged in, including possible fraud in Kenya, Honan’s response to counter-arguments, why Google no longer returns the highest quality search results, how we’ve moved to from a world of search to a world of answers, and what a Googlesque future would look like, click here.

Source: Gizmodo

Via: The Economist

Courtney Ousley took a look at Hot Dog consumption in the United States. Highlights include:

• The average American eats 65 Hot Dogs a year.
• 155 million Hot Dogs are eaten on Independence Day.
• Teenaged boys eat the most Hot Dogs.
• Hot Dog consumption rises during recessions.

To read about the world record for Hot Dog eating, the Hot Dog season, and which areas geographically consume the most Hot Dogs click here.

Source: TheCuriousCalico

Via: Freakonomics

Binyamin Appelbaum reports on two economists who suggest that America’s growth rate was abnormally high in the year’s leading up to the recession and that the new rate of growth will be permanently lower. Highlights of the argument include:

• Current popular theories for why growth is low include that financial crises are particularly bad for economic growth, or that the high levels of individual debt is holding back the economy.
• Both of these views are inherently optimistic – they assume that the United States will at some point return to its pre-recession growth rate.
• However since the growth of the labour force has slowed, and women are no longer entering the workforce at the same rate, economic growth might be permanently lower from here on out.

To read more about the caveat that the model has, graphs that depict the argument, and what the good news is, click here.

Source: New York Times

Dell recently announced that its Dell Venue Pro (pictured above) will be its last foray into the smartphone market for now. Dell joins HP, Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba and ASUS in failing to leverage its computer dominance into success in the smartphone world. Why have computer hardware manufacturers consistently failed in the smartphone market? Engadget explains:

• It’s not just computer hardware makers that are struggling in the cut-throat smartphone world. Nokia, RIM and Motorola have also fared poorly.
• The distribution networks through which computer makers normally sell their hardware aren’t as important in the American smartphone market. Carriers are the key and these companies traditionally haven’t built up strong networks with American carriers.
• While hardware makers are freed from Microsoft’s stringent rules when producing smartphones that also means they don’t receive the support and guidance that Microsoft provides in the computer hardware world. Google is much less helpful in supporting smartphone manufacturers.

To read more about how chips make a difference, the role that Windows 8 may play, and why acquiring established market players hasn’t been successful click here.

Source: Engadget

In an expansive article that looks at society’s relationship with technology Markus Dettmer, Hilmar Schmundt, and Janko Tietz highlight:

• 75% unemployment could be a possibility in our computer controlled future. The world is creating more jobs for computers than for humans.
• Insurance companies offer discounts to drivers who offer to have their driving tracked by sophisticated sensors. This has led to a reduction in the number of claims – since drivers know that somebody is always watching they are more likely to drive carefully.
• Human traders might become a thing of the past as computer programmed traders are faster and can process much more data.
• Small children whose parents have smartphones try to enlarge photos in paper-bound photo albums by dragging their fingers away from each other, mimicking the smartphone gesture.
• Sufferers of Parkinson’s disease can embed electrodes in their brains that can control their behavior albeit with tradeoffs. One individual can press a button to release chemicals into his brain that make his speech more comprehensible at the expense of his handwriting.
• Patients with chronic pain can shut off their nerves.

To read many more examples, what one of the creators of the microchip has to say about technology, why Google and Facebook are just a series of microprocessors, why cars are a waste of space, and how machines have already replaced humans in the cockpit read the entire three part article here.

Source: Spiegel Online

Via: Freakonomics

In an article provocatively titled “11 Dumb Moves That Should Have Cost Mark Zuckerberg His $25 Billion Fortune” Nicholas Carlson looks at moments when we almost lost Facebook. Highlights include:

• Zuckerberg agreed to sell Facebook to Yahoo for $1 billion. Yahoo’s CEO backed out in the last minute.
• Zuckerberg wanted to abandon Facebook after a year and work on a different start-up instead. He was talked out of it.
• He was also against allowing people to share photos on Facebook. Once again he was talked out of this one.

To read about how Eduardo Saverin, Divvya Narendra, Sean Parker, and the Winklevoss brothers of The Social Network fame figured into what is, essentially, a revisionist look at the history of Facebook, the off-putting things that Zuckerberg has said, and other interesting moments that could have transformed Facebook from the company we know and love (Centives’ own Facebook page can be found here) read the rest of the article.

Source: Business Insider

Via: Newmark’s Door