Brian Fung, The Atlantic:

Caffeine addicts, rejoice: all the coffee you’re downing over the course of a day could be lengthening your lifespan. For real.

According to research published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, people who drank four or five cups of coffee a day tended to live longer than those who drank only a cup or less.

Well, no reason for me to stop now. Of course, I can quit whenever I want.¹

The Associated Press:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city are channeling the Seinfeld-Newman rivalry in a video parody that spoofs the mayor’s heroics and Christie’s vice presidential potential.

Pretty funny.

Kevin C. Tofel, GigaOM:

Google’s Chrome browser is assumed to be coming for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices by at least one analyst group. On Tuesday, Macquarie (USA) Equities Research released a lengthy note explaining what this would mean for both companies, suggesting it could reduce the amount of money Google pays to Apple for the use of Google searches in the native iOS Safari browser.

As Tofel notes, that assumption is based on users shifting to Chrome in large numbers. On iOS, third-party apps cannot assume the role of default. This means links contained in emails and text messages will open in Safari. Unless that restriction is removed, the usability of Chrome is diminished. Right now, Apple has no such motivation.

Some have speculated that the government might force Apple’s hand under the guise of anti-competitiveness. That happened to Microsoft when they made Internet Explorer the default browser on Windows. The difference is that Microsoft controlled software that encompassed a majority of the market’s hardware. Thus, there weren’t a lot of options for mainstream people who wanted an alternative default browser. Conversely, Apple controls its hardware and software. If someone doesn’t want Safari to act as a default browser, there are plenty of non-iOS smartphone options. As Tofel asks in the comments, how would the government justify telling Apple what they can do with their own device? In short, people should temper their enthusiasm regarding a Chrome takeover on iOS.

With all of that said, the addition of Chrome is great news. Google fans will be able to use their browser of choice, with all of the nice Chrome features like tab syncing. Apple fans will likely benefit from continued improvements to Safari that such an addition necessitates.

(via: Matt Mahler)

Michael Poh, writing for Hongkiat.com:

A logo, if designed effectively, can bring to people’s mind the unique selling proposition of an organization, which inevitably promotes the company on a sub-conscious level.

What better way to evaluate the effectiveness of logos than to examine how they have evolved in successful and age-old companies?

Peugeot and Apple are my favorite among the current logos.

(via: Ben Lang)

Peter Burrows and Andy Fixmer, reporting for Businessweek:

Apple has spent decades strengthening its subtle but powerful grip over Hollywood, and unlike many companies, says it never pays for its products to appear on television or in movies. The company’s gadgets were discussed or shown 891 times on TV in 2011, up from 613 in 2009, according to researcher Nielsen (NLSN). In the same year, iDevices appeared in more than 40 percent of the movies that topped the weekly box office, according to Brandchannel, which tracks product appearances. That’s nearly twice the penetration of the next most common brands in Hollywood—Dell (DELL), Chevy (GM), and Ford (F).

The hardware costs associated with giving products to movies or television shows mean next to nothing for Apple’s bottom line. Conversely, the advertising time granted in exchange for only those hardware donations can lead to substantial gains for Apple. That is especially true when the products appear in 40% of top box office movies. The cost versus benefit for Apple is remarkable.

Kara Swisher, reporting for AllThingsD:

Yahoo’s embattled CEO Scott Thompson is set to step down from his job at the Silicon Valley Internet giant, in what will be dramatic end to a controversy over a fake computer science degree that he had on his bio, according to multiple sources close to the situation.

The company will apparently say he is leaving for “personal reasons.”

Who does Yahoo think they are kidding? Everyone knows the company is falling apart at the seams. I’d have far more respect for the company if they simply said, “We fired Mr. Thompson because he misled us about his resume.”

Jonah Lehrer responds to Christopher Chabris’ review.

The question of how to write about science – especially when the science is unsettled and provisional – is something I struggle with every day. It is what makes this job so fun and challenging. Personally, I disagree with Chabris’ recommendations. I don’t think it’s necessary to delve into the replication history of every experiment, or to describe the controls for every study. My book describes dozens of different academic papers and books – such a strategy would quickly become unreadable.

Lehrer admits a few factual mistakes, but argues that his approach is required in order to effectually write about science for a broad audience.

Christopher Chabris, The New York Time, reviews Jonah Lehrer’s new book, “Imagine: How Creativity Works”:

Malcolm Gladwell says on the book’s jacket that Lehrer “knows more about science than a lot of scientists.” However he has determined this, it cannot be from this book, which includes many elementary errors.

[…]

This may sound like nitpicking. But science writers, like teachers, have an obligation to get the facts right. When enough details are wrong, readers may lose confidence in the big picture.

As Dr. Sheldon Cooper would jest, perhaps Mr. Lehrer would like some aloe vera because he just got burned.

Kim-Mai Cutler, TechCrunch:

You know how many Android developers complain about fragmentation? Yeah, this is what fragmentation looks like.

Animoca, a Hong Kong mobile app developer that has seen more than 70 million downloads, says it does quality assurance testing with about 400 Android devices. Again, that’s testing with four hundred different phones and tablets for every app they ship!

This isn’t to knock Android. Rather, I never fully considered the challenge of testing apps on an open OS. Kudos to those who care enough to try. This may go to the heart of why some developers default to iOS.

Johnny Strategy of Spoon & Tamago:

The inaugural Tokyo Hotaru festival was held last weekend. And kicking off the festivities were an impressive display of 100,000 LED lights – made to resemble hotaru (fireflies) – that floated down the Sumida River through central Tokyo.

Very cool photos.