Rowling Writes Potter Update; Hints At Possible New Book

I first saw this on Twitter a few days ago as a retweet from Pottermore. Jason Kottke has the best summary of it I could find:

In a piece for the Pottermore web site, JK Rowling writes an update on how the gang from the Harry Potter books is doing. The piece is an account of the Quidditch World Cup Final written by Rita Skeeter, the gossip columnist from the books. You need a login to read it on Pottermore, but someone uploaded it to Reddit as well.

That last line is one of a few references to possible new stories in the piece...the last paragraph mentions a new biography of Harry and his pals due out at the end of this month:

And for those who want to know exactly how imperfect they are, my new biography: Dumbledore's Army: The Dark Side of the Demob will be available from Flourish and Blotts on July 31st.

Could Rowling be setting the stage for an eighth Potter book or is she just winding us up?

Very interesting. When I first read that myself I thought -- No...she couldn't have. But now that I think more about it...perhaps?

Smartphone Truths And Samsung's Inevitable Decline

Ben Thompson writes:

Ultimately, though, Samsung’s fundamental problem is that they have no software-based differentiation, which means in the long run all they can do is compete on price. Perhaps they should ask HP or Dell how that goes.

In fact, it turns out that smartphones really are just like PCs: it’s the hardware maker with its own operating system that is dominating profits, while everyone else eats themselves alive to the benefit of their software master.

Gruber has additional commentary that is worth reading on the topic of Samsung's software.

Homemade Remake of a Scene From the Battle of Hoth in ‘Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back’

Justin Page at Laughing Squid writes:

Cinefix has created a homemade remake of a scene from the Battle of Hoth in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. This new episode of Homemade Movies was directed by Pasadena, California-based animator and musician Dustin McLean of DustFilms. We’ve previously written about Dustin’s ongoing homemade remake series.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Destroys Climate Deniers

Chris Mooney, writing for Mother Jones:

Cosmos certainly hasn't shied from controversy; it has taken on evolution and industry-funded science denial, and it has been devoting an increasing amount of attention to the subject of climate change. And apparently that was just the beginning. This coming Sunday, Cosmos will devote an entire episode to the topic. Here's the episode description from National Geographic:

Our journey begins with a trip to another world and time, an idyllic beach during the last perfect day on the planet Venus, right before a runaway greenhouse effect wreaks havoc on the planet, boiling the oceans and turning the skies a sickening yellow. We then trace the surprisingly lengthy history of our awareness of global warming and alternative energy sources, taking the Ship of the Imagination to intervene at some critical points in time.

Courtesy of National Geographic, above is a clip from the new episode, which should have climate deniers fulminating. In it, host Neil deGrasse Tyson uses the analogy of walking a dog on the beach to helpfully explain the difference between climate and weather (pay attention, Donald Trump) and to outline why, no matter how cold you were in January, that's no argument against global warming.