Today’s Second Dose Of The Stupid

Has March 31st become National Stupidity Day?

Need a Job? Invent It

We teach and test things most students have no interest in and will never need, and facts that they can Google and will forget as soon as the test is over.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

How the hell does he know what anyone will “need”?

Did Steve Jobs ever think he “needed” calligraphy? No.

But he did!

The April First Policy Here

This post is a sticky that will be removed on April 2nd. Scroll down for any new posts.

I hate playing — and hate being taken in by — April first pranks. You won’t see any here.

Usually I skip posting on April first, but in case I have any posts for that date, know that they’ll be legit and not stupid pranks.

Today’s Dose Of The Stupid

Why Your Kid Can’t Get a Job

Be unusual and memorable: if, for example, you reached Level 60 on World of Warcraft, tell your future boss why that means you have monster leadership skills.

Is this guy for real?

And, show you have a big and growing network that comes with you when you get hired.

What? “Look at me, I got a posse!”

Next!

Archos 80 Platinum Unboxing Video

Whoa. That was fast. It was only yesterday that the Archos 80 Platinum showed up in vendor listings in the U.S.. Now, in Poland, there’s someone who actually owns one!

Doctor Who: The Bells Of Saint John

The Doctor is back!

And this episode is full of new things. Which I will not spoil in snaps.

Archos 80 & 97 Platinum Tablet Price Increases

Ouch! The Archos 80 Platinum was supposed to be US$199. Now it’s US$229. And the Archos 97 Platinum was supposed to be US$299. Now it’s US$329.

Adorama:

Click = big

Memo To Scott Turow: Just STFU Already!

Turow on Amazon/Goodreads: This is how modern monopolies can be built

Amazon is buying Goodreads, its only sizable competitor for reader reviews and a site known for the depth and breadth of its users’ book recommendations.

I know you think a computer is sorta like a telegraph, Turow, because you also think Google Search is like a word processor’s Find command.

But are you so stupid that you can’t even parse the sentence you wrote?

Samsung, Haier, Apple — And Writers — Know How To Do It. Do You?

Things don’t always work out.

Having problems is inevitable.

Taking a wrong turn, making a wrong move, happens even to the brightest of people.

Then what do you do?

It depends on what your goal is.

As a company or as an artist, is your goal to please and delight customers?

Or are you just out to make things so you can extract money from buyers?

Those are opposite attitudes.

Here are lessons on how to be great from three companies and — as proxy for all of them — one writer.

File This For Future Reference: MediaTek

Sony will use MediaTek chipset

This is a rumor.

But if it turns out to be true, it would be a bit of an earthquake.

MediaTek CPUs are mainly used by Chinese companies. As far as I know, there’s never been a world-class company using that chip in a consumer product. This could be the beginning of a huge change in future hardware.

All Nook Tablets Are Now Orphan Devices

With the revelation that Windows 8 intends to support a resolution of 1024 x 768 — basically what Apple gave us with the iPad 1 and 2 and the iPad Mini — it’s clear that the future of Barnes & Noble’s Nook Media is with Windows RT, not Android.

If you’ve been thinking about buying a color Nook device, don’t waste your money.

If you already have a color Nook device and have been thinking of loading up on apps from the Nook App Store, don’t waste your money.