Ingenial

With all this hype about the iPad (and the fact that I don’t have one) I thought I’d console myself by rubbing in some recent research from the American Psychological Association proving things don’t bring happiness. As it turns out,

“No matter which wristwatch one buys, even if it is entirely satisfactory, it can still be compared to one in a store display — encouraging counterfactual thoughts about what it would be like with their positions reversed. After returning from vacation, in contrast, it is not so easy to compare a hypothetical Vail ski run with the waves actually ridden in Fiji.”

Experiences can’t be evaluated as clearly in contrast to alternative experiences one could have been having. Purchases, of course, have more permanent effects than most experiences. If I go to the park and play baseball tomorrow afternoon I may not even remember the experience in a week. However, the study showed that my satisfaction of the same event may actually increase over time rather than decrease:

“Satisfaction with material purchases tends to decrease over time, whereas satisfaction with experiential purchases tends to increase.”

The living proof of this has to be my grandparents. They look back on their experiences with fondness and joy but they never mention the “stuff” they owned. The conclusion? Invest in experiences you can enjoy for a lifetime over purchases you’ll enjoy for a few years. Read the rest here.

Via Unclutterer

I just think Chase Jarvis is a genius. Last week we shared one of my favorite videos of his: Jason on Managing Risk. Watch that before proceeding.

In Chase’s latest installation of his self-documentary series called “RAW” he gives us a sneak peek into the process of making a video like the one above. The camera equipment he uses is just incredible. You won’t see a single tripod anywhere in the documentary.

See the entire post with pics here.

200 MB in 1970.

1 GB in 1980

ChatRoulette is a website that connects two random people and their webcams. While it’s plagued by idiots and their crude behavior, there are some occasional people who make it an interesting social experiment, such as this guy who plays improv piano about the person he’s connected to.

As of Friday, March 12.

At Friday’s close, these were the five highest market cap U.S. companies:

• Exxon (XOM), $315.38 billion.
• Microsoft (MSFT): $256.71 billion.
• Apple (AAPL): $205.48 billion.
• Wal-Mart (WMT): $205.09 billion.
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA): $202.20 billion.

The biggest oil company. The largest retailer. The leading software company. A conglomerate run by the world’s most respected investor.

And Apple.

I believe Apple will pass up Microsoft within two years.

From Tech Trader Daily.

One of my favorite comic strips is What the Duck, a satirical look at a duck photographer trying to make it in the highly competitive field. Today’s strip captures the angst of gearheads the world over as they move from one obsession to the next before finally realizing it’s the Indian not the arrows.

The burgeoning war of mid-sized cities clamoring for 1 gigabyte per second internet from Google just heated up a bit. Topeka, Kansas renamed itself Google, Kansas. Then city officials in Duluth, Minnesota posted this skit offering to rename all firstborn males in the city “Google Fiber” and all females “Googlette Fiber.”