commentopia What the World Is Saying A SERVICE BRINGING YOU THE BEST READERS' COMMENTS FROM TOP NEWS SOURCES ON THE WEB
SCI/TECH WEEKLY COMMENTS JULY, 2009 — SEPTEMBER, 2009
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SEPTEMBER 21, 2009 - SEPTEMBER 27, 2009 SCI/TECH
Across the larger portion of the US Southeast, there is a substance known as red clay… or simply, red dirt to those who don’t live here. If my understanding is correct, this red coloration is a combination of rust, from the high iron content and from hematite… which is similar (or akin) to kaolin. This huge red clay deposit is the result of what was once a very large inland sea, that stretched from the area of mid Georgia to the far side of the Mississippi River, some-odd millions of years ago. In fact, there are also today large deposits of fossilized mussels and other shell fish all across the region. If Mars was indeed far wetter at one time, it may be that the red clay in Alabama and that on Mars, have some shared history. [WIRED/Red rocks on Mars aren't just rust] <> Great! First we find out our moon isn’t made of cheese, now this [WIRED/Red rocks on Mars aren't just rust]
MINI T.REX -- A "JAWS ON LEGS" JUST NINE FEET LONG
Truly, a wonderful and important discovery! It is unlikely to be an immature T. rex because adequately preserved saurischian fossils bear certain histological features that make possible fairly accurate assessments of a specimen's degree of development at the time of death. Moreover, most species enjoy a relatively short geologic existence. Assuming that this find has been correctly dated, it is simply too old to belong to the species T. rex. No larger specimens have been found from strata of this age. It would be nice to know more about the geologic context of this discovery. No doubt the Chinese authorities are on top of it. [NEW YORK TIMES/Fossil find challenges theories on T.Rex] GENE THERAPY HAS COLOR-BLIND SQUIRREL MONKEYS SEEING RED AND GREEN
Color blindness is a strange affliction, and only a very few people are truly "color blind." I have significant color blindness according to the standard eye tests, and yet have never noticed any problem in daily life. For example, I have red-brown color blindness in that I (so I'm told) cannot distinguish various shades of those colors, and yet see a wide range of reds and browns throughout my daily life. People assume those who have color blindness literally wander a world that is black/gray and white, when actually I can't even tell the difference. The only time it comes up is when I can't see certain numbers in the eye tests themselves. For example, at the top of this very page I see a bright red apple with a vibrant green leaf. In short, for the sake of clarity I would note that many if not most of the 3.5 million "color blind" people in the U.S. are probably just fine without gene therapy. [WASHINGTON POST/ Gene therapy for colorblindness?] <> As an artist who is red green colorblind this is very exciting news. Colorblindness is a real pain. There are many circumstances where designers use artistically subtle reds and greens that are impossible for me (and about one in 8 others) to tell apart. In my own personal experience my colorblindness does not manifest in seeing red and green as shades of gray, but rather that less saturated shades of red and green look very similar, for example a pale green and beige are hard for me to tell apart. On the other hand intense greens and reds are easy for me to distinguish (ie traffic lights). Another factor seems to be the size of the color sample. It is much easier for me to determine an iffy color if it is a large swatch rather than a dotT. [WIRED/Gene therapy cures color-blind monkeys] SEPTEMBER 14, 2009 - SEPTEMBER 20, 2009 SCI/TECH FACEBOOK LOGS 300,000,000 USERS PLUS POSITIVE CASH FLOW -- CAN IT FAIL?
It’s kind of curious reading a piece where the enthusiasm about the future of a company has more to do with the number of its community than with the money earned. Curios and somehow reminiscent of the previous bubble. I like your style Andrew, I like the way you shed some light on web 2.0, but reading Nick Carlson on Alley Insider:
puts your sudden enthusiasm in some perspective, especially if you remember, like everyone who has observed the first bubble does, that the sole community numbers won’t translate into income, let alone profits. I also see Facebook letting a large share of its advertising potential slipping away from its hands, when it keeps granting for free the space that many “new generation” agencies use to build campaigns saving the media buying expenses (a process which is putting onto their knees the news websites that make a living out of adv). Ultimately, I see Facebook’s financial success strictly bound to its transformation into the institutionalized, business friendly, version of the big brother (an entity that holds and is entitled to sell, the personal data of everyone). A perspective that, frankly, doesn’t inspire in me any enthusiasm. [U.K.DAILY TELEGRAPH/Can Facebook Fail?] <> You forgot about dogs. This is big on Facebook. My dog has her own account and she has over a hundred friends around the world, many of them dogs. [TECHCRUNCH/Facebook crosses 300 million users. Oh, yeah, and they just went cash flow positive.] <> Its an interesting question - can we see Facebook going the way of MySpace?
I can't see Facebook going the way of MySpace. Zuckerberg clearly understands social tech far better than Murdoch with MySpace and looking back even further AOL with Netscape. Their product is fundamentally strong, and I think they are quicker in adapting their product to potential threats/competitors. Unlike MySpace's blind attitude. 300m users is a big deal too. Once you build up a sizeable network - i.e. all your friends are using one social networking site - its hard (and a hassle) for you all to migrate to another site. I suggest this would only happen (i) piecemeal and over a significant length of time and (ii) the competitor's product is significantly superior. As long as you adapt to change & implement what users want, you have to screw up pretty big time to lose such a strong position (see MySpace). [U.K. GUARDIAN/ How exactly is Facebook making money?] WHAT A WONDERFUL UNIVERSE! -- HUBBLE'S NEW IMAGES
I wonder how often that same beautiful, expanding, limitless void observes us...and laughs. When I get the most frustrated with the greed and ridiculousness of my fellow man, I try to remind myself of my place in this infinite void, and be grateful for spending a small amount of time as matter that knows it exists. [HUFFINGTON POST/Amazing new NASA images from Hubble.] <> The money and repair that have gone into the Hubble are worth every penny. Spectacular images and scientific progress, in one trip. Way to go NASA. America and the rest of the world need to keep funding and exploring above our atmosphere. Knowledge is the key to humanity's survival. [CNET/Repaired Hubble telescope back in action]
CLASH OF THE TITANS — AMAZON VS GOOGLE BOOKS
For those complaining about how Google is 'trampling' the rights of copyright holders, you should probably read the settlement first. The settlement is about how much google will PAY COPYRIGHT HOLDERS for the right to scan their books. They are not stealing anything from anyone. Rather, they are paying to scan out of print works that are not being monetized at all and will then pay royalties on all revenues received back to the copyright holder. If you are a copyright holder of an out of print work and for some reason you feel that you could do better and you don't want them to scan and sell your work, you are fully able to opt out at anytime. [CNET/Amazon: Google Books deal an 'unprecedented copyright hack] SEPTEMBER 7, 2009 - SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 SCI/TECH THE HOUSE OF TWEETS — WHERE EVEN A MOUSE IS HEARD TWITTERING
My house has been like this for some years. [U.K. DAILY MAIL/Home Tweet Home: House talks to its owner via Twitter site.] <> Can I use it to spy on my cats? I'm convinced they party hard instead of sleeping all day as they claim. [U.K. DAILY MAIL/Home Tweet Home: House talks to its owner via Twitter site.]
FACEBOOK AND TWITTER: DUMB OR DUMBER?
While we are developing as children, many intrinsic and extrinsic factors shape our futures. This is because the brain is wiring itself until we reach 21-25 years of age, at which point you are what you are, cognitively. Incidentally, working memory/attention (not really the same thing, but for the sake of this discussion it's okay to say as much) are the last to be truly fixed. This is why we see AD/HD symptoms disappear, effectively, in almost all cases by about that time. [CNET/Psychologist: Facebook makes you smarter; Twitter makes you dumber.] <> What complete rubbish. Facebook use will make you smarter compared to Twitter use? 1 hour of TV increases chances of ADD by 10%? Ridiculous. Finding out how I rank on the "hotness" scale is a great example of where Facebook "sucks" life force from the mighty (or not so) cerebrum. [ U.K. DAILY RECORD/Twitter turns you into a twit but Facebook makes you clever, says expert.] <> Twitter is this era's CB radio fad. Bored people with odd handles are transmitting their inane mutterings, using a soon-to-be-dead insider language, to an "audience" that isn't really listening because there's too much static. [GAWKER/facebook makes your brain big. Twitter doesn't]
AUGUST 31, 2009 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2009 SCI/TECH NEWSPAPER CLASSIFIEDS VS CRAIGSLIST — THE SIMPLICITY PATTERN
Let's not forget that everything on craigslist is an advertisement, same for the various "classified ads" mentioned - the difference is purpose of the ads. While all the ads are there to generate revenue for the sponsor, some are there to attract the reader, others are there to exploit the reader - the issue is balancing the exploitation with the attraction. Many conventional web sites were given gobs of money and a fairly reasonable window to generate revenue for the investors, while I suspect that newspapers are slamming "exploitation" ads down the throats of the readers due to the demands off generating revenue NOW, as their sponsor organizations are losing revenue. It is this hand-to-mouth existEnce that is causing them to squeeze their handful of sand ever harder, causing more sand to spill out... The answer? Newspapers need to lower their immediate expectations and learn from US radio stations - often-times, when a radio station changes format they go "commercial free" for an extended period, usually timed to culminate around Arbitron ratings, to establish their audience, then they slowly work ads into the programming, much like the famous "how to boil a frog" instructions. [BOING-BOING/Newspapers can't make themselves as simple as craigslist] <> At least among the people who use Craigslist's for-sale pages, they are people who buy and sell used things. So it's likely that they will own older computers which can turn a site with all the modern bells-and-whistles into a "Waiting for doubleclick.com" nightmare. Craigslist, on the other hand, doesn't appear to even have a style-sheet, much less Ajax, or even JavaScript which makes it relatively snappy on even an old computer. Let me come at this from the other angle, too: while Craigslist is not a couple people working in their basement, Wikipedia (for lack of a source in Wired; tired of reading) reports 32 employees. THIRTY-TWO. How would a monolith like a newspaper survive? They'd need 32 employees to serve one city. The trouble is that people still want their jobs, and making a complex, bloated website is one way to ensure it takes 32 people to run one city's classifieds. Nobody in a corporation would make a decision that would make their whole department obsolete in a year. Craigslist grew to the size it needed to be; newspapers (or any organization) cannot shrink to the size they need to be. [BOING-BOING/Newspapers can't make themselves as simple as craigslist] MULTI-TASKING - WHEN MORE MAY BE LESS
Good multi-taskers prioritize their workload and attack it with those parameters in mind and do it seemingly flawlessly. The other 75% of the equation are the people who always seem so busy and overwhelmed that they really accomplish little. These fine folks are the "Peter Principle" crowd that think they're doing great things but are making their lives and their superiors lives miserable. These folks need to slow down and do less but do it relatively well. I'd prefer to see one thing done well than ten done marginally. [USA TODAY/Multitaskers might get less done] <> The problem with our “Information Age” is that nobody ever told us what information is important. Now we are faced with sifting though dozens of different outlets at once in an attempt to take in everything we can. The problem is that few people are realizing that even though they can check their email, Twitter and Facebook all at once, none of these are necessary or important in the first place. [WIRED/Multitasking muddles brains, even when the computer is off]
<> Anyone who claims they can multitask is LYING. The human brain cannot multitask, PERIOD. [LIFEHACKER/Self-proclaimed multitaskers aren't that good at multitasking]
AUGUST 24, 2009 - AUGUST 30, 2009 SCI/TECH INTERNET DETOX - RE-WIRING CYBER JUNKIES
This is so wrong on so many levels it's (not) even funny. For the price of this place, speaking as an economist, you can certainly afford your addiction and that's even tossing in a T1/T3 connection or a ten or so wireless broadband modems so you are never without! Next off, recent research into the actual nuerochemical reactions/interactions in the human brain finds that it is rewarding us when we solve a particular problem, such as a search or a puzzle, so addiction to the reward (endorphins) should come as no surprise. You get similar rewards from running (runner's high), overeating (natch), even chocolate. Should the APA pursue this and incorporate 'internet addiction' into the DSM, there are more than a few other behaviors that would require incorporation as well (see prev. sentence). And you thought insurance costs were bad now? Still, a vacation from the 'net for an extended period with natural adventures tossed in at no cost? I'll take it. Back to the lighter side: I think they call it 'ReStart' to imply that you get to restart your life. Actually, having serious experience with various programs, I think ReStart is entirely appropriate. 'Cause that's what the 'participant' will do as soon as they get near a 'net connection!!! I would [THE REGISTER/Internet junkie detox center claims U.S. first] <> The website seems brilliantly logical, you're going after intertubz addicts and what better place to try to reach out to them than through the interwebz. [CNET/America's first Internet addiction detox program] SPITTING IMAGE — FAKING DNA EVIDENCE
The writing's been on the wall for this for quite a while. DNA evidence *by itself* may prove someone innocent but can't be relied on to prove someone guilty - all it proves is the the DNA was present. Unfortunately almost court systems assume that if the DNA is present then you have prima fascia evidence that the donor must also have been present too. It's kinda like assuming that if you find an egg in the refrigerator ... then you must have had a hen in there too. [THE REGISTER/Scientists unlock DIY DNA] <> This is why base collected evidence should be run through more than one independent lab in addition to FBI/police labs. It need not even be required on all cases, simply something the defense can request (and pay for at their own expense) in order to provide contrary evidence. Any cases where the state provides DNA evidence, but can't provide enough source sample for 3rd party validation should be excluded. [ARS TECHNICA/CSI fraud:researchers craft fake DNA evidence] AUGUST 17, 2009 - AUGUST 23, 2009 SCI/TECH THE GREAT CREDIT CARD HACK: AT THE HEART OF THE ISSUE
The door is wide open. There are hundreds of millions of dollars laying on a table just inside. There are no guards, no security cameras, no dogs, nothing as far as you can tell. What do you do? What do you expect some percentage of passers by will do.
Companies like this should, and I hope they are, liable for this type of theft. After years and years of this type of thing happening you have to wonder where the management's heads are. [PC MAG.COM/Three men charged with stealing 130 million cards] <> With all of the breaches of IT system security that have come to light, it is becoming obvious to me that, despite what the information technology industry would like us to believe, "data security" is mostly a myth. Nothing that involves the internet or computers linked to the Internet is truly secure. That said, the toothpaste is not gonna go back in the tube. [BOSTON GLOBE/Suspect in TJX breach linked to largest credit data theft in U.S.]
STONE AGE TOOLS: FIRING UP THE IMAGINATION
Given that fire-hardened tools and weapons made of a single piece of wood have a pre-history perhaps as old as fire itself, it is not surprising that the technique should be tried as well with tools assembled from wood and stone. [SCIENCE/Early tools were born from fire.] <> It shows that pre-historic doesn't mean pre-intelligent. A lack of documented history is more a result of the ice ages and erosion than an absence of intelligence. I wonder what they sat around the fire debating - not their health care system. [NPR/Early human lessons:Hot rocks make sharper tools.]
FEEDING THE INTERNET RUMOR MILL
The current frenzy about health care and aspects of Obama’s past are fed by the unfiltered communication that people have access to these days. The proliferation of Internet sources and number of cable political commentators far outpace in influence of print sources in the past. There were always, from the beginning of the Republic, rabid publications that spread false and even vile news. There is Freedom of the Press that forbids any suppression of opinion, but when only the major networks and newspapers reported news, there were better standards to control accuracy of content. The competition for readers seems to have lowered those standards. [CHICAGO SUN-TIMES/Many McCain backers haven't gotten over it]
AUGUST 10, 2009 - AUGUST 16, 2009 SCI/TECH
SPACE JUNK - THE LITTER WE CAN'T IGNORE
Everyone, take a deep breath. That's right, hold it and gently let it out. Simon Coulter is quite right and, while Geoffrey Lean is mostly right, the real issue is with objects in low orbit; the satellites that most effect our daily lives reside in relative safety more than 36,000 KM above the earth. Further, everything on orbit that is of real value or threat has been tracked by its owner or operator since 1957, with more than 20,000 objects, both currently in orbit or decayed, in the Satellite Catalogue. As for the objects now in orbit, the simile that "the ocean is so great and my boat so small" is the reason why the night sky is not continuously ablaze with flashes from the collision and incineration of objects colliding at 17,000 mph each. As for the significant rubbish, the vast majorities are in well-established orbits; the really low dross quickly falls back into the atmosphere and incinerates itself, the fate of the 100,000 bits of debris cited in this article. [U.K. TELEGRAPH/We can't ignore litter, even in space
Having been there, it is a security issue due to the fact that they are inadvertently letting the enemy know how mission capable the unit is simply by stating that they are swamped in maintenance. Because of the social movement to constantly update ones profile and whereabouts, governments and enemies don’t need to intrude on ones privacy; it is all available online. Their families, friends, social hangouts, and intentions can all be found on most social networks and targeted. Here I think that the government is trying to protect the men and women overseas. [WALL STREET JOURNAL/Marines Ban Facebook and MySpace, Pentagon considers it.]
<> I agree with the ban. But this is not new. The military is constantly filtering out things like this. Besides the threats to the networks that people who don't care or want to do damage can cause there are the operational threats too. I was in the Navy and I know that ship movment is a big deal. Many of our enimies want to know where are ships are and when. Some young sailor or marine who doesn't realieze what he/she is doing may give away movement tring to twitter his wife/her husband as to where they are going next. This is not so bad with snail mail becasue by the time the love one got the letter the ship would be in a different place. (Normally 2 weeks or more latter). Although sailors/marines are waned not to mention ships movments in letters also, I am sure it does happen. [ZDNET/US marines ban Facebook, MySpace, Twitter.]
ALL OF A TWITTER -- EVAN AND SARA AND BABY MAKES THREE!
I fail to see the big deal about twittering during childbirth. I tweet all the time. I just say what i'm doing and thinking. How is the day I give birth going to be any different? It's not like people are describing in excruciating detail what's happening in the delivery room. The tweets don't sound any different than what you'd be telling someone after the fact. Within the next month I'll be having a baby, and I'm sure I'll be updating twitter during the process. While in labor with my first child I was sending constant email updates out to friends and family, who all thought I was crazy. Apparently it's impossible to type and have a baby at the same time? [CNN/Tweeting in labor:'Epidural, yes please.] <> We have now moved on to breastfeeding apps on the iPhone; I recommend 'Nursing' which records which side and how long bablet has fed for. I kid you not. See how my world has imploded?! If only there were iPhone apps for a) passing everything Inspector Gadget-style that's out of reach while I'm pinned to the bed/sofa, b) walking bablet up and down the stairs (he's heavy and I'm knackered) and c) baby shellshock. App Store surfing has also unearthed 'Baby Monitor' - you leave the app on next to Bablet and when the squawking starts, it phones or texts the number of your choice. Your unlucky partner, for example. More dispatches from the technological hinterland the next time I can summon the energy to type something with my spare hand... [U.K.GUARDIAN/She's having a baby (on Twitter)] AUGUST 3, 2009 - AUGUST 9, 2009 SCI/TECH TWITTER - ON HER MAJESTY'S SERVICE
So, now we have a Twitter Tsar; a Whitehall mandarin who appears to have overall responsibility for censoring tweets - via the digital media teams - emerging from the confines of various government departments. Is it possible to monitor / check / authorise & approve every tweet? Moreover, what are the repercussions and penalties for over-stepping these guidelines? Now, what are the odds for how long it will take someone in government to lose their job over a dodgy tweet? [U.K. GUARDIAN] <> I think it is good that the government is coming up with some guidelines on best practice for using twitter. As opposed to septa44 above, you can't just bury your head in the sand and use other methods of communication, otherwise you might be missing out. Communication should be about putting the right information through all available channels. This is how the world moves forward. As for twitter - it has the advantage that it is very conversational and when you get communication going two ways you have a lot more power. Gone are the days when screaming into your televisions party political broadcast was the closest you could get. Now you'll have real people on Twitter trying to do everything they can to help you as an individual. I'd be more worried if the government didn't have any guidelines. Bearing in mind here that this is not just for members of parliament, but for the whole public sector. [U.K. GUARDIAN]
Where do you go with satire when someone says that... We completely understand the public's concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population I wonder exactly how much biomass an autonomous robotic gun turret will need to consume. Someone mentioned goats, which have indeed been described as desert makers, but at least they only escape and break into your garden. They don't usually mount guns on their backs and fire on passers-by. [THE GUARDIAN] <> (Sung to the tune from Funny Girl, "People")
They hide behind using the word “biomass”. What do you think dead critters and people are? I think all these companies trying to make wars green are ridiculous. Whole areas get razed and burned during wars, either during the buildup or during the fighting. Green training is one thing, but when the real deal happens, they’ll wrap det- cord around an ancient baobab tree and blow it like it’s nothing if it’s in the way. Instead of getting rid of the pollution from war, try spending time and money getting rid of war itself? [WIRED]
JULY 26, 2009 - AUGUST 2, 2009 SCI/TECH
I’ve got my issues with Microsoft. I used to think they were horrible with all of their proprietary interfaces, restricting OS control, etc. I’m still not a fan, but I also realize that other companies out there are the same way. Apple is very controlling of their devices. I love my iPod touch, but I would like to interface it with any kind of machine that I want to. Google is a whole ‘nother animal. I don’t hate Google, I’m afraid of it. This is something I’m surprised hasn’t already come up. Yeah, MS charges a whole lot (arguably waaaay too much) for their software, and sometimes it’s pretty buggy. I’ve been concerned with privacy using Windows, but I’m at least fairly certain that they’re not spying on me, logging my keystrokes looking for advertising $$. How do you think Google manages not to charge for everything? They use targeted advertising. Yeah, they can pick up a LOT of info about you through their search engine, but that’s a relatively small window when compared with everything else you do on your computer. What if you play the Sims 2? Next thing on your desktop is an ad for the Sims 3, or the only expansion you don’t yet have. What if you’re a student and write a paper on hybrid cars, you start getting emails from Toyota? This may seem like an extreme viewpoint, but the evidence is already there. Google will slip you an LSO and pump targeted advertising at you. Maybe this lack of privacy is the price that we pay for that elegant GUI and well crafted code. I don’t think their products are inherently bad, or that there’s some Google planned takeover of the world, I just like to keep some things to myself. What’s to keep the information mined on you only in Google’s hands? Whether through purposeful or unintentional means, that information is recorded, and in one place. You no longer have any control over your on-line presence. I liked you Google, but you’re starting to get a little too big brothery for me. [WIRED] <> Google fanboys and girls seem to be celebrating April Fool's Day today since expecting Google OS to beat WIndows or even OS X is a BIG joke. A browser isn't the only software people use in the OS. Google is forgetting the basics and trying to reinvent the wheel in a different way.
<> I have a Facebook account, but I don't upload any images to it that are good enough for anything but onscreen resolution. I don't use Google Docs for anything. I keep all my information on hard drives that are backed up and kept by me. My information is mine, I know where it is and who has access to it. Cloud computing takes all my stuff and keeps it for me in places that are promised to be safe for as long as nice people are in control of it. Google is, at this time, undoubtedly following their main tenet of "do no harm". However, as a publicly owned company, they are beholden to the shareholders. What happens in ten, twenty, thirty years when the good folks retire and someone who wants to make a quick buck doing "some harm at times" controls things? This is not to say that Google OS will fail, I can see uses for it. But those that do not wish to see their images or their documents on Super Bowl commercials will continue to keep things off the cloud. [BOING-BOING]
E-books are a reality and save the world's resources in so many ways. If publishers wish to delay releasing a book for e-book distribution, I can wait! It is a pleasure to not have the responsibility of storing previously read books on my book shelves! That is the purpose of libraries! I am also awaiting the increased publishing of text books for e-book distribution. When this happens, and it will, my students can have immediate access to book sections for classroom discussion and reference without the burden of carrying pounds of books in their backpacks or brief cases! [NEW YORK TIMES]
Up until I retired from teaching high school physics and chemistry in 2006, I used to tell my backpack laden students that they we just a generation too soon in terms of having all there books, tests, handouts, etc. on one small electronic book. By the 2000's, we have already gotten to the point where I did not have to print out lab handouts: they were on the classroom set of laptops I had, which were also connected to motion detectors, voltmeters, pH meters, etc. and were used by the students to gather lab data. Perhaps the strangest part of it all is that I required students to print out graphs and data tables and then write lab reports BY HAND, including the sections: Title, Purpose, Background, Procedure, Data and Observations, Processing the Data, and Conclusion. That was the only way I could ensure that everyone wasn't passing around the lab file of one student, modifying it and printing it out! [ABC]
JULY 13, 2009 - JULY 19, 2009 SCI/TECH
A glass structure is truly a marvel of engineering --- perhaps as big a marvel as the Titanic was when built!
Of course trying to make hyperlinking illegal is silly. But I disagree that the bigger problem here isn't a serious one. What we need to save is not so much newspapers, per se, but professional news organizations that hire reporters (which traditionally have mostly been newspapers, and to a lesser extent, broadcast news orgs.) Whether these news companies distribute their news on paper, or via broadcast media or the Web isn't the point. The point is, we DO need news companies to pay reporters. And giving away news free on the internet is a very bad thing, because the companies the produce this news will not have the money to pay reporters. If we don't have enough professional reporters out there, we're all gonna be a lot worse off for it, believe me. Somebody needs to pay reporters to come up with good, investigative news - to go after government/police abuse or corruption, for example, or corporate manipulation of our government. Without good, paid journalists, this stuff is not gonna be exposed enough. "Free-blogging" won't substitute. You young-uns who have been living in this "Web news" world your whole young-adult lives thing the "news fairy" will just keep reporting the news we need reported. But as you get older, you learn that not only is there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny; there's no news fairy either. [GAWKER]
JULY 6, 2009 - JULY 12, 2009 SCI/TECH
During WWII, "C" complained that someone at the Bletchley Park code-cracking establishment addressed him by name, because his identity was supposed to be secret back then. He was a Scotsman who wore kilts, and got told "Well, Mr Menzies, if you don't want people to know your name, you shouldn't be wearing your family's tartan." [HUFFINGTON POST] <> OK what are the chances of seeing Mrs Sergei of Russia's secret service doing a belly dance on Facebook? Or Mrs Head of CIA treating us to a rendition of "Stand by Your Man"? Perhaps the wife of the head of Mossad would give us her recipe for chicken soup. Lady Shelley has made her husband look a laughing stock - there's no denying that and she hasn't done herself any favours either, behaving like an overgrown teenager. What on earth did she think she was doing? Facebook is, at some stage, bound to create generation cringe as its users get older and become haunted by silly images of their misspent youth. Lady Shelley was old enough to know better. [U.K.GUARDIAN]
I LOVE technology and gadgets ... but ... the incredibly rude use of cell phones / BBs / anything else during a face-to-face meeting astounds me! We appear to have become a society of puffed-up, self-important people. "My BMW is shinier and BIGGER than yours" ... "I am insecure and (probably) inadequate. I am compensating with frenzied twiddling on my BB" ... "You are BORING me, Pondscum. I shall BB my way out of boredom. You may twitter on. I shall ignore your pathetic presence".
JUNE 29, 2009 - JULY 6, 2009 SCI/TECH
It's always amusing to hear these stories about Apple. I am an investor and I used to work for Apple.
There is a team of very creative individuals which comes up with the incredibly successful, unparalleled, and impeccably designed stuff the entire industry follows and attempts to copy time after time. Steve listens to them and then hits the trigger as to what will be developed and the marketing plans submitted to him by the ace marketeers there.
The problems with graphic display, ranked stories and timeliness of updates are all very easily correctable once Amazon or the newspaper company decides to do it. I don't have a Kindle but you have to be live that a thin, full page electronic reader with a long battery life (graphics and color will help) has got to be the future of newspapers and many (but not all) magazines. The cost to layout, print and delivery and everything else that goes into production can be totally eliminated. This is huge. This is how and why newspapers CAN survive and thrive. This model will work for many magazines, many blogger types can create their own magazines, you can read Slate on the road without your bulky computer...the benefits are enormous. Now, the business model is still flawed. These readers should cost far less, because the manufacturers should get a cut of the subscriptions, and the subscriptions should cost next to nothing. The papers can still sell advertising for revenue but at, say, $1 a month for the NYT instead of $60 for the print edition, the subscription base will increase a thousand-fold. How great would it be to have a very thin, instant-on, lightweight, cell driven (for regular updates), stash of 10 newspapers and 50 magazines at your fingertips. I'm sure this will eventually happen if the publishing world isn't as stupid as the music publishing world.[SLATE] Oh, come on people, every few years there is some new technology that the youth embrace and their parents reject. Some kids spend far to much time texting, however their parents should monitor that sort of behavior. I'm sure when telephone's came out there were editorials claiming that speaking on these newfangled contraptions was ruining the kids as well. Society isn't going to collapse because teens are acting like teens.[BOSTON GLOBE]
Apps can be very focused portals into specific areas of the internet, and beat the multi-purpose giants at their own game.
JUNE 22, 2009- JUNE 28, 2009 SCI/TECH
Who cares? JUNE 15, 2009 - JUNE 21, 2009 SCI/TECH I find it ironic that stations are sending out messages on Twitter informing people who were unaware of the transition that their analog TV sets will no longer function on switch to digital. [NEW YORK TIMES] JUNE 8, 2009 - JUNE 14, 2009 SCI/TECH
I'm just as excited for the Palm Pre as anyone is, but the features you have listed as "1-ups" over the iPhone 3G will only matter for a few months. The iPhone OS upgrade takes care of a lot of issues people have had software-wise, and as for the physical features of the Pre these will probably become moot when the next iPhone comes out a few months from now.
The way computers are sold in China will make this extremely difficult to enforce. The majority of brand name computer sold are notebooks, the balance really being custom built PCs from hardware-malls where there are hundreds of small shops, side by side. JUNE 1, 2009 - JUNE 7, 2009
SCI/TECH
Another search engine, more wastedtime+money by Microsoft. [Cnet] I'm not a fan of Microsoft, but there is so much room for improvement in search, the more people pushing the field forward the better.[NY Times] I wish the new Czar luck. Having been involved with the ARPAnet/Internet since the 1970s, trying to harden a billion-headed network would be well-beyond Herakles. As it seems that all networks are permeable (see Sean Gorman's "Networks, Security and Complexity" [2005]), starting with (perhaps) the oil and gas pipelines or the electricity grid might be more sensible. [NY Times] <> Please, please, open the war with an all-out assault on spam. [NY Times] <> This may be a bad thing. The whole concept of strengthening cyber security seems geared toward war, which generally leads to something bad. A great example is the Patriot Act. As more of our freedoms become arbitrarily chaperoned and protected by the Federal Government, we slowly lose control of those freedoms. The internet is one of the largest mediums of thought and artistic expression in existence. To allow the government arbitrary control over infrastructure is one thing, but to allow the government control over artistic expression is quite another. [Boston Globe 5] |
