tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190862652011-07-07T20:47:29.357-05:00NMNnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4451100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-24722448093519301812009-10-10T17:33:00.003-05:002009-10-10T17:37:51.016-05:00

Yahoo's GeoCities, one the of the first make-your-own-site hosts is closing for good at the end of the month. Back in the late 1990s it seemed like everyone and their brother had a GeoCities site. But most people had lite. But the site fell by the wayside as most bloggers long moved on to greener pastures. Mashable users waxed poetic on the heyday of the site.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-21962799301648281262009-10-05T20:16:00.002-05:002009-10-05T20:22:43.605-05:00

Though there was a lot of ballyhoo years ago over the fact that most Netizens were male, times have certainly changed. Nowadays Twitter, MySpace and most other Web 2.0 sites are heavily female. The lone male stalwart is Digg. But what does it mean?

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-66301382191144621412009-09-30T20:10:00.004-05:002009-10-05T20:23:43.854-05:00

Google and Wharton have launched a YouTube Channel about Marketing and Advertising Called FastForward. Says the Intro Page: "Marketing is in the midst of a complex transformation. As consumers become more technologically sophisticated and choices multiply, marketing must adapt. Tune in to viewpoints from industry and academic thought leaders to acquire inspiring, empowering and actionable

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-89261454231790091302009-09-21T22:26:00.009-05:002009-09-21T22:32:11.904-05:00

This video is a stop-motion animated video from Google Japan about how identifying features on Google Street view are removed from the final product. While we guess there are probably less anthropomorphic computers and more algorithms, this was a very clever depiction.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-76956219522385497122009-09-14T21:37:00.001-05:002009-09-14T21:42:42.947-05:00

Might as well start the week with something rather unexpected - a sturdy, DiY paper stand for an iPod or iTouch. It's a pretty elegant design. Check it out for yourself at Dessine Moi Un Objet.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-16111073646458061252009-09-04T10:48:00.005-05:002009-09-04T11:09:50.713-05:00

Songs about computers now are somewhat common. Well, techno-influenced songs about computers definitely are. But back in 1982, they were vastly less common. And even then, computers bought to mind Kraftwerk more than Neil Young. Which is why this song is so interesting.Precious metal lines Molded into highways Running through me So microscopically Days and nights Weeks and months and seasons

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-2477101344653659252009-09-02T15:37:00.003-05:002009-09-02T15:41:54.673-05:00

GMail went down yesterday, which pretty much sent e-mail junkies into a blind rage. The outage lasted almost two hours, and in that time, Twitter use spiked. But Google's failure was nothing insidious - apparently it was just a sever update gone wrong. In future outage events, you can check if a particular site is down at: http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-64992561321515176112009-08-24T11:48:00.003-05:002009-08-24T11:54:53.901-05:00

MIT's Media Lab has an interesting project up on the web called Personas. It allows you to type in you name (or anyone else's) and it combs the web for mentions of them, and classifies the descriptions into categories like sports, fame and music. I've tried it with some famous people with interesting results.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-62806700203695138152009-08-21T09:32:00.003-05:002009-08-21T10:23:35.324-05:00

Today's song tech concerns one of the more popular technologies featured in music = the phone. Beechwood 4-5789, a 1962 hit for the Motown girl group the Marvelettes, is one of the most popular songs using the now-defunct telephone exchange system. Back when there were still operators, the purpose of the exchange was to allow operators to distinguish between 2 identical numbers. Many major cities

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-2224261849425509392009-08-19T10:06:00.003-05:002009-08-19T10:20:19.662-05:00

Following yesterday's piece about post-mortem e-mails, I found this article in Time magazine about digital legacies. Digital legacies being social network profiles and content as well as uploaded photos/music and e-mails. As older people use social networking sites more frequently, this is obviously becoming an issue. But Facebook and MySpace tributes to dead classmates are perhaps a more

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-16105291855759670312009-08-18T09:40:00.002-05:002009-08-18T09:49:36.534-05:00

From the British Telegraph, there is a new service called the Last Messages Club that allows you to set up a batch of e-mails that will be sent to loved ones after you die. They might contain anything from last love letters to reminders to cancel your bus pass. I guess its not surprising that e-mail would be the medium of choice for creating these mini last letters. Morbid, yes - potentially

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-60560920090306875862009-08-17T09:11:00.004-05:002009-08-17T09:23:44.327-05:00

Free Wifi by John KannenbergOne of the more prevalent stories I've seen across new outlets recently is the death of Free Wifi at coffeeshops and cafes. I can understand the business side of things, especially in this economy, but it seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Wifi was brought in to make customers stay longer in the first place, and to create more of a community, convival

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-87806128882284828382009-08-14T10:33:00.005-05:002009-08-14T10:44:53.817-05:00

This Song/Tech is a bit unusual - it's about a post-apocalyptic world with NO technology. It comes from the 1988 Talking Heads album, Naked. In the song, Byrne laments about the loss of the 'modern' things that once stood on the land - factories/malls, etc, that are now covered only with flowers.If this is paradise/I wish I had a lawnmowerIt can be described as the answer song to Joni Mitchell's

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-58879546183462123582009-08-14T10:23:00.003-05:002009-08-14T10:32:42.519-05:00

Popular URL shortening site Trim is going to close by the end of the year, due to financial strain. URL shortening was especially popular on Twitter, where every character was at a premium, due to the 140 character limit. I never really understood how these shortening sites made any money, especially with the glut of bandwidth being sapped up by Twitter and other similar sites. The closing of

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-7577282699524216902009-08-13T20:20:00.006-05:002009-08-13T20:45:02.809-05:00

Jeff Atwood wrote a post recently comparing user contributions to many web 2.0 sites as sharecropping. By using the webspace or 'land' on sites like MySpace, Flickr, etc. etc. users are allowing the companies to essentially capitalize on their content. Says Atwood:In essence, any website where user generated content is the website, that is also a for-profit business (not a non-profit organization

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-15061999930446569782009-08-12T17:19:00.002-05:002009-08-12T17:32:57.218-05:00

Lots of new tricks going on at Facebook - from the lunch of FacebookLite (think Twitter) and an acquisition of Friendfeed. But with all this change come new privacy settings, too, with increasing ability to make your profile and related content open to everyone. Mashable has a guide to the new features which include increased public profile access and the ability for people to become 'fans' of

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-6755829162987263282009-08-12T17:01:00.002-05:002009-08-12T17:11:38.038-05:00

The Chicago Tribune has officially launched its social media and blogging site, ChicagoNow, after a soft launch in August. There are 75 featured blogs, and users can sign up to comment and participate. This site is a major toe in the water for the flagging Tribune company - who is trying to get a piece of the social media pie.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-89848783658737283022009-08-07T10:41:00.003-05:002009-08-07T11:00:26.960-05:00

In this week's installment of Song/Tech I will be covering Paul Simon's "Kodachrome", a paean to a now-dead 35mm film technology. The song was written in 1973, in the heyday of Kodachrome film, which was introduced in 1935 as the first commercially-viable color film. However, Kodakchrome took a nosedive in the 80s and 90s thanks to competition from Fuji and changing technology. As of June this

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-63858776677052189812009-08-06T09:42:00.003-05:002009-08-06T10:00:05.198-05:00

The New York Times has an amazing graphic of music sales on various formats from 1973 to present, including the peak year for each medium. Below is the chart for LPs and Cassette singles. Though the peak year for LPs was 1978, there seems to be a slight increase in the past year. Further down the chart, you can see digital music making its mark, albeit a relatively small one.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-17686144043757507702009-08-05T09:14:00.004-05:002009-08-05T09:40:08.289-05:00

Talk about the digital divide was at a frantic pace about 7 years ago, but has tapered off a bit since then, owing to the lowering of broadband and computer prices. But that doesn't mean that the digital divide is gone. I recently found two reports - one from Europe and one from Chicago, telling of large parts of the population not online. In a study conducted by UIC and the University of Iowa,

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-25904066586344105482009-08-04T09:46:00.006-05:002009-08-04T10:01:44.210-05:00

Kevin Kelly has started an interesting project, asking people of all ages to draw the their own personal maps of the internet. In this project, drawers were asked to "Please draw a map of the internet, as you see it. Indicate your home." The results can be seen in a Flickr group dedicated to the project. It's pretty clear that the results run the gamut, from network-like graphs, to brains to

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-7178845507124807612009-08-03T09:22:00.002-05:002009-08-03T09:32:02.254-05:00

Like most things, Virtual Worlds outlive their popularity and usefulness, and their developers eventually pull the plug. Usually that's it. However, when Sony decided to unplug The Matrix Online, it did so with a bang. All former users were invited back for a free month of play, and the game engineered its own ending, Matrix-style, with ominous, rubble-filled skies, and increasing server

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-70382229700079795832009-07-31T11:24:00.008-05:002009-08-02T08:30:21.418-05:00

Last year I posted the quaintly-dated 1960's German-language song "Der Computer #3" from French singer France Gall - which was all about a computerized matchmaking services. I decided to revive my series on technology-inspired music, especially since it is a topic I find personally enjoyable. This week's entry comes from Brazilian icon Gilberto Gil. The English translations are all courtesy of

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-4754714819043251222009-07-30T09:38:00.003-05:002009-07-30T09:45:45.779-05:00

For a bit of levity, here's a humorous picture from PassiveAgressiveNotes.com from Northwestern's Medill school of journalism. I know where the angry note-writer is coming from, anyone interested in news can't get away from Twitter. But if it's not Twitter, it's something else (2 or 3 years ago it was OhMy News and Newsvine). Seems that the problem is with forward-happy friends and colleagues

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-86681350512509860682009-07-29T09:41:00.001-05:002009-07-29T09:48:56.541-05:00

More from the"WHO thought this was a good idea?!" file.... The government of Bozeman, MT required all job applicants to fill in the user names and passwords for all social networking sites they belonged to. The premise was that they wanted to assure the moral character of their applicants. Fortunately, everyone seemed to think this was a ludicrous idea, and it was overturned within a day. However

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-19913919302249370952009-07-28T09:47:00.005-05:002009-07-28T10:06:58.958-05:00

SEACOM, a fiber-optic cable connecting East Africa went live yesterday. A ring structure connects South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya, with further connections to India and Europe. This is a huge step forward, bringing much-need infrastructure improvements to areas eager for cheaper high-speed internet. The project started in 2007, and was funded primarily through the

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-52316192401943688502009-07-27T10:18:00.005-05:002009-07-27T10:43:54.179-05:00

Seems that the kick for going green has spread to the far reaches of the blogosphere- with the latest development being green typography. Ecofont, an open source Dutch font by SPRANQ, is made 'green' by its distinctive ink-saving holes. Though the holes are very visible at large sizes, at size 12, the holes are invisible, and the font prints and reds normally. So theoretically, printing out text

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-81016083518409922612009-07-24T14:49:00.003-05:002009-07-24T14:53:39.990-05:00

There are some etiquette rules that mom and dad just couldn't teach us. To text or not to text in the company of others, for example. For this quandary and more, Wired has a humorous guide online about skills you need to survive in the modern world. BTW, Wired says texting in the company of others is ok...(hmm...)

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-47760614093030914742009-07-23T19:32:00.004-05:002009-07-23T21:38:53.134-05:00

One of my favorite data visualizations of all time is the Sparkline, first developed by data guru Edward Tufte. I first encountered these little nuggets of data at my first job, where one of my co-workers was something of a Tufte disciple. In Tufte's words, Sparklines are "data-intense, design-simple, word-sized graphics." I guess that's why I find them so interesting - in a world where, in terms

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-49451668606873408852009-07-22T13:07:00.005-05:002009-07-22T13:22:21.669-05:00

18th Century Scottish Architect, Robert AdamI am deeply intrigued by the ongoing row between the British National Portrait Gallery (NPG here for short) in London and Wikipedia. In short, a Wikipedia editor uploaded roughly 3 thousand of the NPG's digitized image on Wikipedia (including the one seen above) and they are none to happy about it. In fact, they've sued Wikipedia for copyright

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-41314336165611178782009-07-22T10:41:00.000-05:002009-07-22T11:11:24.192-05:00

Yes, it's about time for a refresh. I had the same previous blog design for over 2 years, so I decided to do something entirely new. Shake off the cobwebs. As opposed to its old design this blog is much simpler, with fewer widgets and links. I felt the old design looked cluttered, and was a hassle to maintain, so I think paring everything down is a good idea.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-83925531036479886282009-07-12T08:09:00.000-05:002009-07-22T11:10:55.556-05:00

Looks like you should watch what you put on your profile, lest others get the wrong impression.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-77062370835133233912009-07-09T11:09:00.000-05:002009-07-22T11:10:33.434-05:00

Turns out that paper may be in fact be the best format for backup.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-49823994973460314612008-12-03T11:57:00.002-06:002008-12-03T11:58:00.554-06:00

NMNnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-11646651667587546232008-11-22T20:17:00.002-06:002008-11-22T20:20:58.193-06:00

Due to a lawsuit, net-dating site eHarmony is starting a site for single-sex matches called "Compatible Partners" using the same quiz that is on the eHarmony site. I suppose this is a good step. Nevertheless, eHarmony has always weirded me out in the first place, what with their creepy commercials.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-71708879905894391582008-11-20T15:09:00.001-06:002008-11-20T15:11:04.207-06:00

Be prepare to have your online history laid bare! Here is a copy of the questionnaire that all potential staffers have to answer. I imagine it would be quite difficult for the average 22 year old to complete.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-53406470414063031452008-11-14T21:25:00.001-06:002008-11-20T15:30:37.955-06:00

What is one of the more interesting aspects of the upcoming Obama administration which has certainly not been lost on the press is the use of new technologies to reach the public. Obama has now unveiled a transitional website, Change.gov. CNN feels that this web savvy may be one of the reasons that Obama so resolutely won the election (by reaching out via web to a younger, more-wired demographic,

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-30677954016799158822008-11-10T15:31:00.000-06:002008-11-20T15:32:00.536-06:00

...25 years ago Bill Gates announced Windows 1.0.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-31696866446943031202008-11-06T08:22:00.001-06:002008-11-22T20:29:00.796-06:00

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-15204728962702228032008-10-04T18:04:00.002-05:002008-10-14T18:15:12.766-05:00

My eye was caught recently by affiliated links at the bottom of a Washington Post news article on the 2008 Election - the links were from the Onion. I would hope that most readers would realize the Onion was a parody newspaper - but one has to wonder.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-45317113713874469222008-09-27T21:47:00.000-05:002008-09-27T21:48:14.442-05:00

Another music site bites the dust...

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-86867081038419448002008-09-20T16:22:00.002-05:002008-09-27T22:09:23.905-05:00

I loathe e-mail forwards. You know the specific kind I am talking about - they come from only a subset of contacts and usually consist of inspirational quotes, off-color jokes or urban legends warning you about hypodermic needles in gas pumps (or something like that). They are the tacky 21st-century equivalent of chain letters, and yet they don't seem to be going away. The problem with forwards

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-40422915064323895802008-09-12T22:00:00.000-05:002008-09-27T22:08:09.424-05:00

The "Netflix" model of business, where you have a flat monthly fee for a certain amount of selections per month has been adapted to wide variety of good from Video Games to Purses. Now, the same model has been applied to magazines with Maghound. You get 3 magazines for $5 a month. While on the surface, there is no reason this site shouldn't work, the selection of magazines themselves pitifully

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-90826798877638267352008-09-11T15:06:00.006-05:002008-09-11T15:27:45.161-05:00

One of the major story threads I have been following throughout the entire history of New Median is the wave of articles heralding "the death of print media." Usually, online properties are cited as the reason for this downward spiral. To combat this, print properties are pushing their content further into the online space, with advertising-supported content. In the recent past, several

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-16816164832477240142008-09-05T21:48:00.000-05:002008-09-27T21:51:35.079-05:00

On one hand I cannot believe that Google has reached such prominence in only 10 years. On the other hand, I find it hard to believe that 1998 was 10 years ago - it seems so much closer than that! John Battelle's Searchblog has a nice roundup of some of the stories floating around the news and blogosphere about the big one-oh.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-56604586673216541222008-09-03T21:52:00.003-05:002008-09-03T22:07:26.909-05:00

I found this telling editorial in the WaPo about the uncanny nature of Facebook's ads to weird a person out. The author is engaged and is receiving a slew of ads about "wedding day weight loss" and shiny rings. Though I am not engaged, I receive similarly distasteful ads related to my relationship status.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-13742337568614820842008-08-30T21:59:00.000-05:002008-09-03T22:04:31.028-05:00

The NYT has an in-depth piece on the world on online trolls, those who cause internet chaos for sport.In the late 1980s, Internet users adopted the word “troll” to denote someone who intentionally disrupts online communities. Early trolling was relatively innocuous, taking place inside of small, single-topic Usenet groups. The trolls employed what the M.I.T. professor Judith Donath calls a “

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-36041688552562313222008-08-24T08:49:00.000-05:002008-08-25T05:52:38.342-05:00

I, like many others, was surprised that "mainstream" news organizations such as CNN was earnestly reporting on news of the discovery of "Bigfoot" in Georgia, which no surprise, turned out to be a hoax. In fact, CNN covered the story over the course of several days, from the time the claim was first made to a press conference given by the 'discovers' to the eventual debunking. I don't think anyone

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-69749167639535383412008-08-19T09:19:00.000-05:002008-08-25T05:28:58.560-05:00

I've been enjoying Hulu a lot recently its an online video portal that allows you to watch shows for free. There are a lot of great shows available like Arrested Development, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the Simpsons. I was wondering how they got such great content and (so much of it). It turns out Hulu is actually a joint venture between Newscorp and NBC, supported by ads. If you're

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-61399554878350899462008-08-12T21:32:00.003-05:002008-08-12T21:34:10.551-05:00

The Huffington Post has started a Chicago channel!

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-46095749692108112802008-08-11T17:42:00.005-05:002008-08-11T17:46:50.186-05:00

Well not really. But I do "get" it. There was a 20+ minute GMail outage that ended a few minutes ago. In the midst of the outage, I wanted to see if it was widespread, or just happening to me. I tried a couple of random Google searches for info, but eventually hit on Twitter, where a search for "GMail down" produced an absolute flood of hits. I figure if all of Twitter had no mail, it was indeed

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-66623030777513436332008-08-10T13:34:00.008-05:002008-08-10T13:47:03.186-05:00

Wordle is a nifty little online Java program that will take any hunk of text and make a pretty tag cloud out of it. You can change the orientation of the cloud, the font and the color scheme. If you'd like, you can make a cloud out of your Delicious tags. The above Wordle is of the cut-and-pasted lyrics to the song "El Cantante" (click for a full sized image). I think it came out pretty well!

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-89244495441661810732008-08-09T10:41:00.002-05:002008-08-09T10:51:44.478-05:00

Dipity has an interactive Timeline of Internet memes, starting all the way back in the 1940s, though the meme as we know it was more of an 80s creation. Meme numero uno for me was Hampster Dance (though I vaguely remember 'Hooked on a Feeling' dancing baby), but the one that really caught my attention was All your Base. A group of kids at my High School printed and photocopied fliers that said "

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-77791560808445982132008-08-07T22:11:00.003-05:002008-08-09T10:52:12.146-05:00

Del.icio.us, or should I say, simply Delicious now unveiled a fresh new look. They have a new, simpler domain name, though all old addresses port over. There are a few nice new interface changes, including an interactive tag bar for each link. There is a post on the delicious blog about the changes.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-75565417542896915582008-08-06T20:23:00.007-05:002008-08-07T22:18:15.323-05:00

Founded by former Google employees, Cuil (pronounced "Cool") is a new intuitive search engine. The site launched last week to much fanfare. Instead of popularity alone, Cuil focuses on analyzing the content of webpages. From the FAQ: So Cuil searches the Web for pages with your keywords and then we analyze the rest of the text on those pages. This tells us that the same word has several different

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-89593028297904134902008-07-26T01:42:00.000-05:002008-08-06T01:44:27.247-05:00

Following June's Download Day, Firefox has exploded onto the scene and is quickly gaining market share. As of the end of July, Firefox 3 has 5% of all Net Traffic.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-90950961000876938892008-07-23T00:54:00.001-05:002008-08-06T21:15:09.172-05:00

This Newsweek article is a bit old, but with the Olympics just around the corner, the topic of oppressive censorship in China is becoming big news again. According to the article, totalitarian states are trying to keep people in 'check' not by preventing them from visiting sites, but by watching them when they do. China is famous for requesting search query data and subsequently banning keywords.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-4652685229735293862008-07-11T19:07:00.000-05:002008-08-06T01:40:33.980-05:00

I had no idea Craigslist had so many I suppose they have to remain one step ahead of the spammers - their business depends on it. Going far beyond simple Captchas or checkboxes certifying "This is not Spam," Craigslist is using phone verification!

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-63990547273452756252008-07-02T20:00:00.003-05:002008-07-02T20:14:43.416-05:00

The MIT chapter of Students for Free Culture project has started a site called YouTomb, which is a home for all of the videos pulled off of YouTube for copyright infringement. Late additions are a Natasha Bedingfield music video and a mash-up of South Park clips. According to the site, 6302 videos so far have been taken down due to copyright violations.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-36391404235589616392008-06-26T17:17:00.004-05:002008-08-06T01:47:50.701-05:00

The Atlantic thinks so. In this opinion piece by Nicholas Carr, he discusses how the web has changed our reading habits and decreased our mental capacities. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver

NMNnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-18357822052222538482008-06-20T19:45:00.003-05:002008-07-02T20:04:56.394-05:00

Firefox set a world record for most downloads (8,002,530 in 24 hours), with its release of Firefox 3. Welcome to the 21st century, Guinness!

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-43945707750496356522008-06-15T20:11:00.001-05:002008-07-03T00:35:59.608-05:00

Well, Spring is technically over in a few days, but I thought it would be prudent to include at least one Spring cleaning/maintenance tip - how about backing up your blog? If you have a Blogger blog, Lifehacker had a nice feature a while back about some easy ways to back it up.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-18601373514948430012008-06-13T19:13:00.001-05:002008-07-03T00:35:05.310-05:00

[Via Lifehacker] I have always found Wikipedia's search function somewhat rudimentary, and somewhat problematic. You have to be fairly sure what you are looking for (which as I know, is not always the case) and you have to be sure to spell it correctly. Unless most search engines, there is no "correct my mispelling" option that appears once you search.Powerset is a site that allows for Semantic

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-59996262216597581582008-06-12T10:42:00.005-05:002008-06-12T10:54:57.529-05:00

[Via Techdirt] Though this is not a particularly 'new media' story, I find it really relevant, especially given the extremely popular "gray market" for used media on the Internet. A judge has recently ruled that someone can sell promotional CDs even though they have "Not for Resale" stamped on them. The case involved a person selling promo CD's on EBAy, who was consequently taken tot Court by

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-76182835582393994602008-06-12T10:20:00.002-05:002008-08-06T01:47:34.281-05:00

I just finished my first year of Grad School.P.S. The Official Download Day for Firefox 3 is June 17th. Mark your calendars...

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-69360864605785082722008-06-06T23:01:00.001-05:002008-07-03T00:21:48.425-05:00

In a unique use of Second Life, a Philadelphia scientist is conducting experiments to study the movements and ecological interactions of virtual frogs. Apparently there is quite a vibrant community of scientists in the virtual world in an attempt to reach new audiences. Says Tracy Kennedy, "Students are no longer prepared to learn using traditional techniques."

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-72852535181608234822008-05-31T15:16:00.003-05:002008-05-31T15:30:52.308-05:00

The New York Times is the latest of many sites to offer its visitors an API (Application Programming Interface), allowing users to customize their pages and create applications. The NYT Cheif Technology Officer Marc Frons said that the API was part of an ongoing project to make the NYT into a full-fledged "news and information platform", part of which would be a "more robust" social version of

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-63636451868276087742008-05-29T19:00:00.003-05:002008-05-29T19:07:10.135-05:00

When the latest version of Firefox is released in June, Firefox will attempt to break the record for the most downloads in a single day. Like many, I can vouch for the greatness of Firefox, especially with its auto-Spell check Tool. No date has been set yet, but early June is a good bet.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-65271481506398507942008-05-28T23:25:00.000-05:002008-05-31T15:28:16.182-05:00

[Via Chicagoist] A cyber-bullying law which was inspired by the case of Megan Meier, a cyber-bullying law passed the Illinois House of Representatives 180-1.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-36665966164748770872008-05-23T17:43:00.002-05:002008-05-23T17:45:49.663-05:00

You know you've made it when you appear on a pop-culture novelty T-Shirt.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-31608369964018729102008-05-19T15:16:00.003-05:002008-05-23T18:00:26.763-05:00

US congressman Mark Kirk(R-IL) has written a letter to the FCC callign for a consumer alert because he believes Second Life could endanger children. Says Kirk,“During the past five years, social networking Web sites like MySpace, Facebook and Second Life exploded in popularity,” Congressman Kirk said. “As more kids flock to these sites, we’ve seen a corresponding increase of online sexual

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-58473531747314366362008-05-14T23:08:00.004-05:002008-05-14T23:56:51.491-05:00

This video is of what a typical BBC newscast would look on a day with 'no news'. Is such a thing even possible? Food for thought. The video is actually a mix of footage from BBC news anchors waiting for the camera to cut away after sign-off.p.s. This is the first Flickr Video I am ever posting. The times, they are a-changin'.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-81570872721733437322008-05-13T18:36:00.002-05:002008-05-13T19:04:50.481-05:00

Brand Tags is a site that displays a brand logo and asks viewers to write the first thing that cames to mind, one word or phrase, that will be added as a tag to brand. I haven't seen tags used in this manner before. It is clear that the real feelings of potential consumers are expressed in these tags, good or bad. Take the tags attached to Louis Vuitton, for example: they range from 'pretentious'

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-16685225395148999412008-05-02T16:00:00.004-05:002008-05-09T01:09:40.392-05:00

German Wikipedia, the second biggest Wikipedia site after English will be turned into book format this September. The book, “The One-Volume Wikipedia Encyclopedia,” will include 50,000 of the most popular German-language entries in a 1,000-page volume. Here, the articles are used as unedited texts, and will be vetted and cleaned up by the book's editors. Wikipedia is often an encyclopedia

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-72690523801590669602008-05-01T23:39:00.001-05:002008-05-02T15:54:35.092-05:00

Art collaborations seem to be popping up all over the pop culture sphere, with artists anad designers doing high-profile capsule collections at Target and Puma,. However, up until now I can't think of a really high-profile artist/web collaboration. of course, Google is the first to break such a collaboration, and in a big way. Google collaborated with dozens of high profile artists (Jeff Koons,

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-25465650897341413162008-04-28T19:53:00.007-05:002008-04-28T21:05:18.110-05:00

Encyclopedia Britannica, who has lost its superiority on the web to everyone's favorite user-edited encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is introducing a new venture to gain some web cred. According to to Britannica:WebShare, a new initiative that lets web publishers and bloggers link to Britannica articles. Your readers will be able to follow those links without an account. Britannica WebShare modules or "

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-35729315855076470452008-04-25T19:49:00.001-05:002008-04-28T19:53:17.497-05:00

China is now officially the country with the most net users, with 220 million total. At the end of 2007, China had 210 million users, while the US had 215 million. Obviously, the proportion of net users in the US is higher, but I'm sure China's net growth will continue to rise.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-80971747187969665912008-04-21T09:59:00.000-05:002008-04-21T01:01:36.395-05:00

Information Aesthetics had a nice post on a German visualization of the international news industry. Even if you don't sepak German, these are some pretty cool visualizations. More images can be found here.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-17410927361874138962008-04-20T12:34:00.002-05:002008-04-21T00:48:27.053-05:00

The University of Chicago Law School is banning Wireless internet from its classrooms, after students were presumably found to be goofing off in class. Law School Dean Saul Levmore wrote: “You know better than I that for many students class has come to consist of some listening but also plenty of e-mailing, shopping, news browsing, and gossip-site visiting. Many students say that the visual

NMNnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-86684606531618686332008-04-18T00:28:00.002-05:002008-04-21T00:34:53.749-05:00

Back! Busy with school. However, I must note the hubbub over Flickr adding videos. Previously photo-only now Flickr allows 1 and 1/2 minute videos on the site - sometimes refereed to as "moving photographs". There has already been a significant backlash from Flickr users, with several anti-video groups forming on Flickr. This story has an interesting wrinkle because many of Flickr's users pay $25

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-5686756805648251282008-04-09T21:22:00.007-05:002008-04-09T21:57:06.541-05:00

Last week there was a significant controversy with the USAID-funded Popline article database at John's Hopkins University. Popline's subject is reproductive health, so it was somewhat unusual that the search term "abortion" began turning up zero hits. I heard of this development through Women's Health News. Apparently, USAID had found a few articles they didn't like about abortion, and an

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-71628946779560347992008-04-08T16:34:00.002-05:002008-04-08T16:43:53.805-05:00

Web 2.0 is all about using websites as applications, and Adobe Photoshop Express is a great examples of this "web as platform" ethos. Photoshop express allows for online sharing, editing and storing, with Facebook and Photobucket compatibility. Mac World has a run-through of the site. There appear to be a nice array of features, though obviously less than the super-pricey software package usually

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-62747472312851013532008-04-01T11:43:00.003-05:002008-04-01T11:55:17.895-05:00

I think it's fun to see what kinds of pranks sites pull for April Fools' Day. Google introduced "custom time" which allows you to edit the times of e-mail (too bad, could be useful), Your the Man Now Dude pretended to fold (YTMNDead), YouTube Rickrolled its featured videos and Gizmodo mentioned Mr. T in every article. Heck, there's even a list of the website pranks on Wikipedia.If you want to

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-74850601978167858432008-03-31T22:54:00.006-05:002008-03-31T23:18:48.269-05:00

The New York Times recently published a piece entitled "The Professor as Open Book" talking about how professors, often early adopters of technology, are embracing social networking sites and blogging. The possibility of professors having blogs and MySpace profiles has the double-edged sword of making the professors more relatable, but also lessening their stature or professionalism.The article

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-34016821659510061612008-03-30T11:35:00.001-05:002008-04-01T11:42:18.754-05:00

I posted previously on Facebook's new social ads and have since seen some in the wild. Basically a social ad is just a regular ad, with an element that includes the name and actions of one of your friends. So for example a typical social ad would appear in the left column, with a little picture of your friend Bob Doe and the caption: "Bob Doe just added Blockbuster Total Access Widget, you should

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-50039973150200004722008-03-26T23:05:00.004-05:002008-03-26T23:28:19.387-05:00

The past few years heralded the rise of the amateur. Most will remember the famous Time Magazine cover that named "You" as the person of the year. However, the once-rosy picture of user as creator has been complicated by a few high-profile challenges to the power of amateurs. I think I have previously mentioned Andrew Keen's "Cult of the Amateur" which states that amateur production is not only

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-73464488580127038192008-03-19T12:56:00.002-05:002008-03-19T13:00:43.432-05:00

I was recently made aware of a new privacy issue on Facebook, whereby your personal information is used to create contextual ads for you and your friends. I am not sure about this major scheme, though I know personal info has been harvested for contextual ads before. In the past few months, I have had ads with my Significant other's name in them, which I find quite disturbing. Anyway, there's an

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-3922963319075468472008-03-13T20:59:00.006-05:002008-03-13T21:30:17.034-05:00

I've heard a lot about WikiScanner since it debuted last year. The site has been actively used to see where the anonymous IPs that edit Wikipedia come from. There were several scandals years ago about people in governmental positions making politically motived edits to Wikipedia, and now companies are under fire for doing the same. Several newspaper articles have highlighted how people have been

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-33290976306266727352008-03-11T00:09:00.001-05:002008-03-11T00:11:07.556-05:00

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-17441424171695467862008-03-10T23:59:00.003-05:002008-03-11T00:08:32.060-05:00

As a I write this Netscape navigator is no longer supported, though it became obsolete long ago. Netscape Navigator was the first internet browser and once commanded nearly 100% of the browser market share. According to this BBC article, it now has less than 1%. The rise and fall of Netscape is an interesting case. It was indeed the first browser and It's death was hastened by the inclusion of

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-1206864810694852642008-03-09T22:12:00.003-05:002008-03-11T00:12:20.140-05:00

I just got back from a weekend of conferencing. Hopefully will be posting with more regularity. For now, here is a fun link from the Wired Blog of a few scenarios which might help you explain DRM to someone who is not familiar with the term.For Example: 1. I want to watch an Egyptian movie for my Middle Eastern studies class. But it is region coded not to play on my DVD player, in an effort to

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-22479049442664361542008-02-26T12:19:00.002-06:002008-02-26T12:20:19.409-06:00

I also thought it was a bit unusual that when you "deactivated" off of Facebook you were able to come back months later and all of your information would still be there, just as you left it. Wasn't the point of deleting your account to truly get rid of all of that information? Finally, you can actually DELETE an account on Facebook. About time. Not surprisingly, College newspapers have picked up

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-372826169957073332008-02-23T21:27:00.003-06:002008-02-23T21:49:34.651-06:00

[Via Le Monde] Above is a map of the favored social networking sites across the world. Facebook and Evergreen MySpace have the lead in the US, but each continent has it's favorites. Friendster (wow!) is a standout in Indonesia, and Orkut holds Brazil and India. I knew there was a ton of variation across regions, but it's interesting to learn about some of these hometown favorites.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-49756424742421479672008-02-23T21:24:00.001-06:002008-02-23T21:27:07.717-06:00

This just in... Wikileaks, a smoking-gun website which posted classified documents has been taken off line due to some documents it posted about Swiss banking group Julius Baer's alleged tax evasion.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-61889251333914076612008-02-22T00:14:00.004-06:002008-02-22T01:05:24.679-06:00

YouTube has a site called TestTube where experimental features are tested out. It's interesting to try out these new features, many having to do with the social aspects of the sites. One such new feature is YouTube's "Warp," which creates an ad hoc social network based on videos viewed, and the links between them. The Warp interface is seen above. Each video is represented by an outlined bubble,

NMNnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-898961672744884822008-02-21T16:07:00.000-06:002008-02-22T00:14:08.052-06:00

The HD DVD vs. BluRay format war has officially ended. Toshiba, the devloper of HD-DVD has said they will stop supporting the format. Preceding this final decision, both Netflix and Wal-Mart stated they will only be As I predicted earlier (along with pretty much everyone) BluRay has triumphed. Not that I am too happy about this result, as I do not relish the thought of replacing my movie

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-36467075825642104072008-02-19T23:25:00.001-06:002008-02-20T01:09:37.361-06:00

Single Serving Sites are just that - a single page with a simple (often nonsensical) message. Nothing more. No links, and little graphics or text. The first one I saw was Sometimes Red, Sometimes Blue - a single page that consists of only a colored background, which is randomly either red or blue. I just began to notice this trend a week or so ago, and I haven't made complete sense it it yet.

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-79529361910389448462008-02-17T12:53:00.002-06:002008-02-19T08:51:36.106-06:00

Newseum is great site that allows you to view the front page stories from all over the nation - and the world. The site is fairly simple - a map with clickable dots on every geographical location with an available front page. So much news is available online today - but I think it is really valuable to see how it is laid out for consumption in newspaper form. The site also contains archives

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-91147899492330585802008-02-14T23:38:00.007-06:002008-02-14T23:53:26.705-06:00

I have recently discovered an awesome online British archive of photographs related to science and technology, scienceandsociety.co.uk. The photographs in the collection represent the holdings of the Science Museum, the National Railway Museum and the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television.There are over 40K digital images on the site, all fully searchable. Additionally, there are

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086265.post-57823467166812213072008-02-12T21:22:00.004-06:002008-02-12T22:53:25.971-06:00

Yes, the one government agency that is more hated than the IRS, now has its own blog, founded in order, to "facilitate an ongoing dialogue on innovations in security, technology and the checkpoint screening process." Unsurprisingly, at times the posts can get a little defensive and self-important, but they actually allow commenting - and the comments get quite heated. I was not surprised at the

NMNnoreply@blogger.com0