"Technology in 2008
Technology in 2008
Three fearless predictions
1. Surfing will slowPEERING into Tech.view’s crystal ball, the one thing we can predict with at least some certainty is that 2008 will be the year we stop taking access to the internet for granted. The internet is not about to grind to a halt, but as more and more users clamber aboard to download music, video clips and games while communicating incessantly by e-mail, chat and instant messaging, the information superhighway sometimes crawls with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Nathan Sawaya, the LEGO artist 2
We have reported about this amazing artist earlier through an article by CNN. Here are more photos from his works, some are truely beautiful creations from those bricks. Thanks to Nathan for the submit.
Love and sex with robots. If advances in artificial intelligence continue, your next lover may have an on/off switch... more»
Facebook is so last year - welcome to the hit websites of 2008
Year in Review::10 MediaShifting Moments of 2007
As the year 2007 sets in the distance, we can take some time to consider the year that was. I’m not a huge fan of year-end lists, but sometimes they help us get a grip on what transpired — and ponder what’s to come.
Internet & Democracy Project Releases Working Paper on the Orange Revolution
The Berkman Center's Internet & Democracy Project has just released its first working paper on The Role of Digital Networked Technologies in the Ukrainian Orange Revolution. From the abstract:This working paper is part of a series examining how the Internet influences democracy. This report is a narrative case study that examines the role of the Internet and mobile phones during Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution. The first section describes the online citizen journalists who reported many stories left untouched by self censored mainstream journalists. The second section investigates the use of digital networked technologies by pro-democracy organizers. This case study concludes with the statement that the Internet and mobile phones made a wide range of activities easier, however the Orange Revolution was largely made possible by savvy activists and journalists willing to take risks to improve their country.
Net Activism and Peer Production
A couple pieces I was reading this week brought up some interesting thoughts surrounding the politics and economics of networked interaction.
First, there's Geert Lovink and Florian Schneider's "New Rules of the New Actonomy", which lays out the authors' thoughts on the direction and purpose of activism in an age of networked interaction. It is a piece that tries a bit too hard to reflect its own philosophy of quick and symbolic action, but there are many pithy phrases and important points buried within it - not to mention that it was written in 2001! One of these poignant moments arises here:
[NSFWAK] Images That Changed The World
Click on the images to see (and learn more) a collection of images that influenced and affected our world forever. Some of them are very shocking, be prepared (that is why the tag NSFWAK - not safe for work, and kids).
Scoble: 'Why Are Some Bloggers Turning on Apple?'
Scobleizer proprietor Robert Scoble observes in a December 23, 2007, post: "I’m seeing more and more anti-Apple blogs lately like the one Dave Winer posted yesterday. Why is that?"
Wiki Government: How open-source technology can make government decision-making more expert and more democratic
Beth Noveck, Associate Professor of Law at New York Law School, has an article in the current issue of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas on "Wiki Government: How open-source technology can make government decision-making more expert and more democratic." Berkman's Internet & Democracy project, which studies how the Internet influences democratic norms and modes, including its impact on civil society, citizen media, government transparency, and the rule of law, explores many of the issues Beth discusses in the article.a few rough notes on knols
Think you've got an authoritative take on a subject? Write up an article, or "knol," and see how the Web judgeth. If it's any good, you might even make a buck.
Blogging Is More Mainstream Than Ever
I am not sure if something can me more or less mainstream, but anyway. Today I was screening through my RSS feeds and I came across a mention of the Web Celeb 25 list, which is released by Forbes every year.
Browsing through the list I saw the usual suspects appear. Mike Arrington, Seth Godin, Om Malik… but things changed on the last position. When the picture of Darren Rowse popped I was pleasantly surprised. Here is what Forbes had to say about him:
How Google Helps Index & Organize Your Room
This is a thought experiment asking the question: What items in your room at home does Google index? That is, which items around you containing information can be stored with Google already? What’s close-by around you may be information important to you, after all.
I’m not sure what’s in your room, so I’m making up some items. For each item I’m grading Google’s ability to help with this today:
4 Characteristics of User-Friendly Websites
A primary goal of any website or blog should be to provide its visitors with a pleasant and fulfilling experience. Regardless of what market the website is targeting, the opinions of users will play a huge role in determining the site’s level of success. Visitors that have positive experiences will be much more likely to come back later, refer friends, sign up for a newsletter, purchase a product, submit an inquiry about a service, etc.
