If Yahoo were a gigolo, he’d paint a picture of a naked woman on his back, just in case it improved business.

— Daniel Jalkut (@danielpunkass) May 16, 2012

While I admittedly prefer typing on iPad via my Origami Workstation, the soft keyboard on the iPad is very good — especially in landscape. I wouldn’t recommend using the soft keyboard for any sort of long-form writing, but the tips in the video are handy nonetheless. (Think emails and/or quick blog posts.)

(via Ben Brooks)

It’s great — despite the fact all is not hunky-dory with the White House’s proclamations. Perfect cover.

(via @marcoarment)

Look, I am Vice President of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights. All the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.

Then today, President Obama comes out as well:

“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Mr. Obama said.

Long a proponent of civil unions, Mr. Obama said his views had changed in part because of prodding by friends who are gay and by conversations with his wife and daughters.

“I had hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient,” Mr. Obama said. “I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that invokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs.”

It’s about fucking time our Chief Executives acknowledge this. Biden’s comment is perfect.

But while this is great news, Marco Arment has a good perspective:

This is certainly progress and worthy of celebration. But does it disappoint anyone else that he was so obviously holding it back all this time because he didn’t want to offend all of the bigots?

His statements are couched in so much equivocation and accommodation that it’s barely an endorsement. And it’s easy to question his motives as he finally says something to energize Democratic voters a few months before his re-election campaign.

It doesn’t feel sincere: rather, it feels like the good-politician move of just telling people whatever they want to hear to maximize campaign contributions and keep themselves in office.

Now, one could argue that Arment’s take here is overly cynical. It is brimming with cynicism, but I, for one, think the jadedness is just. It is really disappointing that it’s taken this long for the powers-that-be to summon up the balls to stand up for same-sex marriage. It sucks that people have to skirt around what’s right because some people might be offended that the gay married terrorists are plotting to blow up the Empire. (A referendum, of course, on the Bush administration’s bullshit post–9/11 scare campaign.) Furthermore, Arment’s point about Obama’s announcing support as a political maneuver is well taken. One would like to believe Obama’s sincere, but seeing how close we are to election time, it’s not unreasonable (or cynical) to think Obama’s simply trying to drum up support on his side of the ticket. (Example 5,765 why Democrats are essentially Republicans Lite. And why I say, fuck ’em all.)

See also: Same-sex marriage is a growing trend that should prevail long-term.

(That’s what happens when you’re born to deaf parents.)

That I can speak ASL isn’t all that impressive — you can take a class to learn it, of course. What’s impressive is that I grew up a hearing kid in a (mostly) deaf world. That is, I was simulataneously immersed in two distinct cultures. On one hand, I have hearing; that means I’m able to enjoy my favorite song and my favorite podcasts. On the other hand, though, having deaf parents meant dealing with oxymornoic.things like visual doorbells, text telephones, and silent conversations. Living in two worlds, so to speak, is something that was “normal” to me because, well, normalcy is relative. I adapted and understood my role in both environments. This was my life, after all.

It’s something that most hearing people don’t understand. If they did, they wouldn’t:

1. Ask me if I’ve ever forgotten any of my sign language; or
2. Ask me what it was like to live with deaf parents.

Even if I’m not as active in the deaf community as I once was, I’ll always be a CODA. No matter what I do or where I go, I’ll always be rooted in the deaf community and deaf culture because of my CODA-ness. That being said, it’s important to keep in mind that CODAs like me — especially young ones — are always going to have to straddle the line between the deaf and hearing worlds. People like us are always going to be able to “turn off” our voices while at the same time turning on our ears. (I’ve even talked to a deaf person while wearing my iPhone’s earphones – how’s that for culture clash?) Our iPods, stereos, and the ability to vocalize English are just as important to us as our TDDs, video phones, and the ability to sign. In other words, the last thing a deaf parent should worry about is their hearing kid having an identity crisis. They’ll never lose that deaf-ness.

Why? Because:

• they’re going to have to communicate with their parents
• they’re going to have to communicate with the hearing world
• they’re going to have to survive

In the end, it’s all about adaptation. The fact is the world is a predominantly hearing one, and we CODAs inevitably identify as being hearing people. In my case, I was fortunate to have hearing family (as well as friends and school folk) around me growing up. And my parents liked it that way — they saw me as sort of a “bridge” connecting the two worlds. I experienced the best of both. Granted, I’m fully aware of how proud and protective those in the deaf community are of their ways — as they should, it’s a unique culture — but I honestly believe they need to embrace the hearing-ness of their child(ren). If anything, their children will be better people because of it.

Trust me, I know.

I use Instacast all the time — at work, in my car and more. While I didn’t have any complaints before, the 2.0 update is really pretty great.

I totally agree with Stephen here — except substitute the car for a bus.1

Stephen’s overview of Instacast 2.0 is pretty great. I downloaded it yesterday afternoon, and I like it a lot. Aside from my major social networking apps — Facebook, Tweetbot, and Instagram — Instacast is probably the most-used app on my iPhone.2 (Gotta keep up with my friend’s show, ya know.)

In my opinion, there’s no better podcast client on iOS than Instacast. Get it.

Devour has a nice video montage of the evolution of the Dark Knight’s logo over time:

From 1941 to 2007 the symbol may have changed but the meaning has always stayed the same. Here’s the transformation of Batman’s iconic logo.

(via Shawn Blanc)

We’re up to two no-hitters before Albert Pujols’ first home run. It gets more bizarre all the time.

— Joe Posnanski (@JPosnanski) May 3, 2012

For the visually impaired community, the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 seemed at first like a disaster – the standard-bearer of a new generation of smartphones was based on touch screens that had no physical differentiation. It was a flat piece of glass. But soon enough, word started to spread: The iPhone came with a built-in accessibility feature. Still, members of the community were hesitant.

But no more. For its fans and advocates in the visually-impaired community, the iPhone has turned out to be one of the most revolutionary developments since the invention of Braille. That the iPhone and its world of apps have transformed the lives of its visually impaired users may seem counter-intuitive – but their impact is striking.

This is a fantastic article — you should Instapaper it right now.

As a visually impaired person myself, reading anecdotes like the ones in the article make me smile. These success stories are a testament to just how far-reaching the iPhone (or, more accurately, iOS itself) truly is.1 I don’t use any of them, but the Accessibility features Apple’s baked into iOS are damn powerful and useful, as Kornowski’s piece illustrates.

That GPS app sounds pretty cool, too.

(via Ben Brooks)

The oft-repeated fallacy that the iPad isn’t a tool for productivity and creation has no credibility whatsoever. Anyone trotting out that old chestnut is either labouring under some astonishingly wrong-headed preconceptions, or is making excuses for their own failings.

I manage to be very productive indeed with the iPad, and I don’t have to jump through many hoops to do so. With the right set of applications (and more are becoming available on iOS every day), you can get real work done – effectively, pleasantly, and regardless of where you happen to be.

I wholeheartedly agree, especially with the first part.

(via Daring Fireball)