Americans Now Owe More on Student Loans Than Credit Cards

USA Today has a sobering report on student loan debt in the U.S.:

The amount of student loans taken out last year crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time and total loans outstanding will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year. Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards, reports the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Students are borrowing twice what they did a decade ago after adjusting for inflation, the College Board reports. Total outstanding debt has doubled in the past five years — a sharp contrast to consumers reducing what’s owed on home loans and credit cards.

Alex Pareene has some further perspective on it. In short: our generation is doomed.

The iPhone 4S Camera

I don’t get my iPhone 4S for another two weeks or so, but in the meantime, a bunch of online posts demonstrating the 4S camera have had me salivating to get my hands on one. Camera+ posted a comparison between the 4S and a bunch of other cameras this morning. This video shot on the iPhone 4S (via Gruber) is also extremely impressive.

The video below has also been making the rounds, comparing a video shot on the 4S with a video shot on the Canon 5D Mark 2 (camera body = $2400):

iPhone 4S / Canon 5d MKII Side by Side Comparison from Robino Films on Vimeo.

I’m looking forward to getting my own. Expect impressions here when that happens.

How Facebook and Google+ Erode Our Options

Chris Poole, founder of 4Chan, explains why Facebook and Google+ are forcing us into boxes when it comes to our online identities:

“The portrait of identity online is often painted in black and white,” Poole said. “Who you are online is who you are offline.” That rosy view of identity is complemented with a similarly oversimplified view of anonymity. People think of anonymity as dark and chaotic, Poole said.

But human identity doesn’t work like that online or offline. We present ourselves differently in different contexts, and that’s key to our creativity and self-expression. “It’s not ‘who you share with,’ it’s ‘who you share as,'” Poole told us. “Identity is prismatic.”

One of the biggest challenges for online social networks is to accurately convey the messy realities that make up our lives. So far, they’ve done an okay job, but there are many ways in which they could do better. Poole powerfully identifies one of them.

The GOP Horse Race

Slate has a wonderful visualization of the race for the GOP presidential nomination, created using polling data over time. The most interesting thing from my perspective: Romney’s remarkable stability over time. It shows that he’s not going away, but that Republicans still, after many, many months, haven’t mustered the ability to fully embrace the guy yet. Poor Mitt.

Also, I appreciated Matt Bai’s in-depth look at the current state of the GOP establishment. Illuminating.

The Tobolowsky Files LIVE

It’s been a bit quiet here this past week. That’s because I’ve been busy putting together the following:

The Tobolowsky Files will have three LIVE performances in Boston during November (11th, 12th, and 13th)! Then, in January, we’ll be heading to Seattle for a performance at the historic Neptune Theater. It will be epic! Buy your tickets now!

I am beyond excited about this. There is nothing quite like seeing Stephen perform his stories live; I’ve seen it happen and the results are moving, powerful, even transformative.

More importantly, I can’t escape the thought: this is how it begins. With a few, jam-packed shows at a cozy, intimate venue. If these go well, not only will it do much to spread the word of Stephen and of the show, but it will also demonstrate that we have a viable business model on our hands. Perhaps even viable enough for me to seriously consider a career change…

Stephen recently did a live interview for a packed house for Seattle public radio. Our show is apparently quite popular there. It is not popular in Boston, where pretty much nobody knows that it exists. In my mind, this presents a number of interesting challenges and questions for us:

– From state to state, how big is the podcast’s reach? And how many of our listeners in each state are big enough fans that they are willing to spend money to see Stephen live?

– Given a situation where most people are not aware of the podcast, is Stephen’s existing popularity as an actor sufficient enough such that people will come see his show even with no knowledge whatsoever of his storytelling abilities?

– Suppose people don’t know about the podcast NOR do they know any of Stephen’s work. What are ways to entice them to come?

Stephen already has a Facebook and Twitter page, and I’ve created a Facebook event for the live showing in Boston. In the weeks to come, we’ll be playing around with some ways of selling the show that I hope will be effective. I look forward to sharing them with you.

I hope you’ll join us in Boston or in Seattle. And if we sell out (or come close to selling out) both locations, you can expect there to be many more performances down the line.

The Future of Apple

Matt Mullenwegg has some interesting thoughts about where Apple is heading. The one industry that I could not have possibly guessed? Cars:

Walk down the car stereo aisle in Best Buy and see what $800 gets you, or a $300 GPS from Garmin, vs an iPad or iPhone. The screens feel like a TI-92 calculator. The typography makes my eyes bleed. I find it morally reprehensible how bad these products are because it’s one of the areas of technology where a bad interface is most directly tied to injuries and deaths. Car folks are making their iPhone/iPod integrations better and better, which may be a glass of ice water in hell, but they’ll never make the jump to providing a beautiful marriage of media, search, and navigation that a great in-car experience needs.

To quote Dennis Reynolds, “That is some long-term shit.”

Breaking Bad: Season Four Finale Round-up

Last night’s finale of Breaking Bad capped off a remarkable fourth season, which cemented Breaking Bad’s place among the pantheon of the greatest television shows in history. Many of the episodes this year could have stood alone as their own short films, with countless cinematic moments that gave me goosebumps for how carefully considered and executed they were.

My weekly ritual has been to read the recaps of Alan Sepinwall, James Poniewozik, Myles McNutt, and Matt Zoller Seitz, and I’d strongly recommend all of them this time around as well. Also, check out Sepinwall’s extensive interview with series creator Vince Gilligan, as well as the NYTimes interview with Gilligan. 

We’ll be doing our own /Filmcast season review this week. Look forward to it.