“In the light of Microsoft rumblings about creating its own search services, we need to ask just where Google is going with a toolbar built only for a Microsoft product. Microsoft are shaping up to take Google out!” —Microsoft and the New Google Toolbar (Microdoc News) Elwyn offers his usual thoughtful critique of all things Google.…
A package from Amazon invokes this lustful passage regarding the New Media Reader: “I have been leafing through the book, and I already know it solved the problem of texts and examples for the little course I have promised to plan and teach in Media Theory this fall. But most important, it promises to sate…
“This study provides an exopolitical analysis of the policy dimensions of an historic extraterrestrial presence that is pertinent to Iraq and a US led preemptive attack. It will be argued that competing clandestine government organizations are struggling through proxy means to take control of ancient extraterrestrial (ET) technology that exists in Iraq, in order to…
“For months I’ve fought to get the number of marketing messages I receive down to a manageable number. I tried just to get to a countable number… I ran naked through my house with a tape deck, ranting. I ranted: ‘In My Kitchen… There’s a Kenmore 20 fridge, a Sharp Carosel microwave, a Rival Electronic…
Rosemary Frezza writes: I can run this program and have a “virtual commute” on those days when I work from home. —Microsimulation of Road TrafficWWW) It’s not really a “game,” but it comes close. See also my own “York Corpus Christi Pageant Simulator“.
Old Country Wisdom: Secret of the Soup BowlLiteracy Weblog) Yesterday, my son Peter won a free dinner for participating in the library’s summer reading program, so my parents took us to Old Country Buffet (an all-you-can-eat restaurant). While I was making myself a small bowl of ice cream, the older gentleman in line behind me…
“the new google toolbar not only blocks popup ads, it comes with a ‘blog this!’ button for blogger integration.” mecran01 —Google *is* the OS (KairosNews) Is this the first sign of what happens now that Google has purchased Blogger? I don’t use Blogger, so I won’t be able to experiment with that feature. Anyone want to…
“The move underlines how desperate the music industry has become to staunch the flow of illegal downloads, which are beginning to devastate compact disc sales. In 2000, the 10 top-selling albums in the US sold a total of 60m copies. In 2001 that dropped to 40m, and last year it was 34m.” David Teather —US…
“Omigod, Earth’s core is about to explode, destroying the planet and everything on it! That is, unless a gigantic asteroid strikes first. Or an advanced physics experiment goes haywire, negating space-time in a runaway chain reaction. Or the sun’s distant companion star, Nemesis, sends an untimely barrage of comets our way. Or … ” Gregg…
“The world in which clothing, paint, lighting, rugs, and curtains all change colors to match (or influence) our mood is coming, but it’s some time away — a lot of technology has to be made affordable and durable before then. In the meantime, IFM and other companies are working on ways to weave touch sensors…
“Lying in the service of power, money and advancement — or simply to avoid embarrassment — is nothing new. Bill Clinton lied about having sex ‘with that woman’; Richard Nixon lied about his abuse of power during the Watergate scandal. Lyndon Johnson lied about American destroyers being attacked by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf…
“I am having trouble remembering the last time I was bored. You must realize that I’m alone with myself which is endlessly fascinating!” William Shatner —Quotable Quotes (WilliamShatner.com) Thanks for the link, Rosemary. And, while I have the attention of the Trek Classic fans, here’s James Lileks’s Best 404 Message Ever (It’s a reference to the…
“I will be teaching a Freshman English class at a medium sized public university, in a computer classroom for next semester. Every student has their own machine with an internet connection. I am thinking about using a weblog for them to post their work and critique each other. Do you guys have any other cool…
“Build great, innovative software, sell it to the users at a reasonable price, make millions of dollars, benefit humanity, retire young. And if you mistreat your users, you’ll loose them, because you have a hundred competitors. The old Silicon Valley was built on this dream, and it worked for two decades.|But this dream is nearly…
Pale Fire: Bloggers are both Kinbote and Shade (Literacy Weblog) “Jerz’s Literacy Weblog” has been classified as a “research blog,” even though I think of it as a teaching tool and memory aid. My blogging sometimes reminds me of the obsessive behavior of Professor Charles Kinbote, the protagonist in Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire. Kinbote compulsively catalogues…
“Emerson was himself a sort of group blogger in The Dial, a magazine he founded with Margaret Fuller in 1840. He designed it as a compendium of the ‘good fanatics,’ like Thoreau, Alcott and Channing in his Concord circle. ‘I would not have it too purely literary,’ he wrote to Fuller, venting a blogger’s ambition.…
“It’s not every day you see your teacher naked in the technology room or posing with a cello.” — Charlotte, British schoolgirl who helped organize teacher pinup calendar for charity. —Teachers Strip off for Calendar (BBC) Uh, I should hope not, Charlotte. The pictures really aren’t that revealing, but this is still just too weird. The…
“People often throw around the terms “objective” and “subjective” when talking about the results of a usability test. These terms are frequently equated with the statistical terms “quantitative” and “qualitative”. The analogy is false, and this misunderstanding can have consequences for the interpretations and conclusions of usability tests.” Philip Hodgson —Usability Test Data (User Focus)
“This special language had its origins in business-speak, and began to spread when Margaret Thatcher insisted that universities should see themselves as businesses, involving ‘processes’ and ‘products’. Such language is fine for the business world, which deals with the definable and quantifiable. As long as the ‘product’ works and sells, they can use whatever language…
“This past year has seen the world of Weblogs, aka the blogosphere, grow in power and stature, if not to the general public, then to the other media. So we’ve created a graphical depiction of what I believe to be the most influential blogs, pushing the direction of media coverage and perhaps even public policy.…