Quick Takes 04.06.2009

• Birds Can ‘Read’ Human Gaze – Science Daily

We all know that people sometimes change their behavior when someone is looking their way. Now, a new study reported online on April 2nd in Current Biology shows that jackdaws—birds related to crows and ravens with eyes that appear similar to human eyes—can do the same.

. . .

The findings are particularly notable given that most other species investigated so far, including our closest relatives the chimpanzee and “man’s best friend,” the dog, are not particularly sensitive to eye orientation and eye gaze, von Bayern said. Rather, she continued, chimps and dogs seem to rely on other cues such as head or body orientation in determining the looking direction of others and do not appear to appreciate the eyes as the visual organs. The results suggest that birds may deserve more respect for their mental abilities. (My emphasis added in bold.)

Also see this excellent talk on crow intelligence by Joshua Klein at TED.

The concept and functionality are simple: users purchase credits in the virtual gifts store at a rate of $1 for 100 credits. After they are purchased, the user has the right to give them away to friends as a reward for posting a good status update.

Since 1997, Porsche, the German sports car manufacturer, has headed north to this tongue-twister of a Finnish town instead of east, a move that helps explain why it is still making money even as so many automakers are tapping government aid to weather the worst industry downturn in a generation.

. . .

Porsche, the maker of the celebrated 911 two-seater and the Cayenne sport utility vehicle, developed a production system — call it über-outsourcing — that is inspired by Japanese models of lean manufacturing and the kind of contract manufacturing common in the electronics industry. But Porsche has taken the notion even further and, at least so far, its highly supple system is molding well to the contours of an unforgiving world economy.

The Free Press complaint centers on the fact that iPhone users can’t use the new Skype service on AT&T’s high-speed 3G wireless network. Apple, which has an exclusive deal in the U.S. with AT&T, says iPhone users can use the Skype service only at Wi-Fi hot spots.

. . .

Free Press and other consumer advocates want the FCC to affirm that net neutrality protections also cover wireless networks. That would prevent wireless operators from blocking services like Skype on their mobile networks.

So maybe instead of getting your company on twitter, paying marketers to mention you are on twitter, and paying people to blog about your company, forget all that and just make awesome stuff that gets people excited about your products, hire people that represent the company well, and when your stuff is so awesome that friends share it with other friends, you may not even need “social media marketing” after all.

(Via: Daring Fireball)

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