Do you? Many people do. The settings they set on Facebook, and the search algorithms in Google and other places serve to create intelectual ecosystems online which reinforce our preconcieved notions. Liberals get liberal news. Conservatives get conservative news. Its a loop which reinforces itself until we have drinks at Thanksgiving. Then ideas are “shared.” [...]
Archive for Month May, 2012
Twitter Diplomacy?
A skirmish has broken out between Russia and a US envoy to Russia, on Twitter. The world is more transparent these days (in some ways) that’s for sure. Here are some of the messages exchanged via Twitter this week.
Use These Words in Social Media and You May be Flagged by Authorities
This is not surprising. I think most relatively social media savvy people have just assumed that using some words and phrases would put one on the government’s radar. It seems a natural progression. As we live more and more of our lives online it is natural that the law “enforcers” would follow humanity into cyberspace. [...]
Nine-year-old’s lunch blog shames school into making changes
The excerpt I read of this kids blog is pretty good. The food she is fed at school doesn’t appear to have affected her cognitive abilities. Yet another example of the leveling power of social media and blogs. No wonder many would like to severely restrict the Net given the fact that a 9 year [...]
Kenya sets the stage for global m-health applications
Kenya has emerged as a major global testing point for the use of mobile heath, or m-health, technology to advance public health and development goals—providing examples of both the ingenuity of locally-sourced solutions and the challenges that remain to providing wide access. More than half of Kenya’s population owns mobile phones, with 18 million people [...]
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor
Potential energy game changers are popping up all over all over. This one looks particularly promising for a number of reasons. (From Phys.org) A materials scientist at Michigan Technological University has discovered a chemical reaction that not only eats up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, it also creates something useful. And, by the way, it [...]
Supreme Court Lets Stand Student’s $675,000 Penalty For Downloading
Better go to iTunes or else you might have your head chopped off for downloading. Well maybe your head won’t be chopped off, but you WILL be destroyed financially. (From NPR) “Without commenting on the merits of the case, the Supreme Court this morning let stand a $675,000 jury verdict against a 25-year-old Boston University [...]
No Backroom Deals to Regulate the Internet: Speak Out Against the Trans-Pacific Partnership!
As we have written before the war for the Internet will be and already has been, a long one. Governments and vested corporate interests (at least some corporate interests) see the massive flow of information the internet enables as a threat. These interests will continue to hammer away until they find a way to fundamentally [...]
Amazing: Orangutans using iPads to Communicate
I have always been facinated with orangutans. They are incredible creatures which exibit deep intelligence. If you ever get a chance to observe one in person it’s pretty amazing. It seems that their intelligence may in fact be even deeper than we thought. Across the country zoos are introducing iPads to the apes with amazing [...]
New ISP offers access to geo-blocked sites like Netflix (In New Zealand)
The the island nations seem to be a bit ahead of the curve these days. Iceland is reinventing banking and from the looks of it doing pretty well. Now this from New Zealand. Block the websites all you want, the Kiwis are going to get around it (easily.) From NBR.co.nz A new internet service provider, [...]
