“There are three gigabytes of e-mail stretching back to 1983, another gigabyte of articles, letters and papers that I’ve written, and one more gigabyte of programs that I’ve coded, photographs I’ve taken, financial records and electronic keepsakes. Every time I get a new computer, I painstakingly copy this data from one machine to the next.” …
“Do [computer] animators’ abilities to make their creations more lifelike actually detract from the spirit of animation? It depends on who you talk to.” Wired. —Every Pixel Tells a Story Similar:For New Acquisitions, UMD Libraries Choose Ebooks by DefaultIncreasingly book vendors provide option…AcademiaStar Trek: The MenagerieJust finished watching a two-part episod…PersonalFrodo Baggins, A.B.D.When I had…
held the most important religious office in Sumer — high priestess at Ur; she is also being credited as the world’s first known author, writing only 300 years after written language developed in what is now Iraq. [Why it took a California psychoanalyst to translate her 4,000-year-old poetry is unexplained by the article, but it…
Huzzah! Bigger, more annoying online advertisements will soon be clogging up your Internet connection! (Now is the time to check out ad-erasing software such as WebWasher.) Similar:Lego-Building Tween Refers to "The Hobbit" TextMy daughter, having just received a hand…AestheticsThe science of fake news: Addressing fake news requires a multidisciplinary effortThe rise of fake news highlights…
“As all parties assess the damage wrought by the market meltdown, 20-20 hindsight shows some startlingly clear mistakes–beginning with a preponderance of money in search of investment, no matter how dubious the venture.” news.com —One year after the dot-com bubble burst Similar:In an Unpredictable Job Market, How Should People Think About College Majors?I tell my…
(Interactive fiction) … She might be the model in a perfume ad; the trophy wife at a formal gathering; one of the guests at this very opening, standing on an empty pedestal in some ironic act of artistic deconstruction — You hesitate, about to turn away. Her hand balls into a fist. “They told me…
Eliza was the first chatterbot — a computer program that mimics human conversation. In only about 200 lines of computer code, Eliza models the behavior of a psychiatrist (or, more specifically, the “active listening” strategies of a touchy-feely 1960s Rogerian therapist). Dennis G. Jerz —Doctor Eliza is in Similar:Writing, Coding and Education: Why They MatterBack…
“I was strolling past some Korean shops in Chinatown when I overheard members of a Cambodian mafia having a powwow. One of these heathens had welshed on a deal to buy a ghetto blaster and was shanghaied off to the Near East. As if that weren’t hurtful enough, it was Dutch treat all the way.”…
Most teachers I know cringe when students who missed class e-mail to request a transcript of the class they missed. My policy is to say, “Get the notes from a classmate.” Dennis G. Jerz —I Missed Class…Did I Miss Anything Important? Similar:MSU asks faculty & staff to volunteer in short-staffed dining halls; @MSU_Football tweets …MSU, instead…
As Napster wavers, file-trading network Aimster is using an unusual shield to protect its users from snooping: copyright law sponsored by the recording industry. Wired.com Similar:Learn to code? No: Learn a real languageI don’t see learning to code as a substi…CultureSpecial ed teacher quits: ‘I just cannot justify making students cry anymore’The disorder is in…
It would only take an hour to drive out to the crash site, but Uncle Owen will kill you if you don’t finish this repair by sundown. Do you repair the vaporator or investigate the crash? Mike Helba —Star Wars Legos Choose Your Own Adventure Similar:Texas lawyer trapped by cat filter on Zoom call, informs…
Publishing giant Random House goes after tiny RosettaBooks, which has published e-texts of some popular Random House authors. RosettaBooks says they got permission directly from the authors. —Styron, Vonnegut E-Books Spark Random House Lawsuit Similar:The Perfect Mate (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 21) Picard fails to bore an em…Rewatching ST:TNG A fussy ambassa…AmusingWikipedia founder…
A new generation of three-dimensional printers can create nearly any solid shape as easily as an inkjet printer creates a letter. The trick is to spray layer after layer of thin, fast-drying resin. Rick Overton Similar:The Quality of Life (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 9) Boxy bots start to skive…Rewatching ST:TNG During a poker…
“Content certainly has all the glamor. What content does not have is money.” Andrew Odlyzko. —Content is Not King. Similar:We Need to Talk about the Burgeoning Robot Middle ClassMaybe it’s not the super-robots we need …BusinessNational Science Foundation announces plan for comprehensive public access to research res…This is good news. It’s unfair that gove…AcademiaOpt Out…
Tom Van Vleck. (Rather dry reading, but offers an opposing view to The First E-Mail Message) —The History of Electronic Mail Similar:In the Era of Fake News, Teaching Media Literacy is a Must My 13-year-old recently approached m…CybercultureGrumpy Gamer – Happy Birthday Monkey IslandI guess Monkey Island turns 25 this mont…CybercultureAdam Savage’s 10 Commandments Of…
A reporter drops in on a Britney Spears chat room and talks about politics. Sort of. —You are in BRITNEY SPEARS Similar:A trend story about millennials, by The New York Times“When it comes down to it, life is reall…AmusingGo Forth and Conquer, but Postpone the Selfie“We have about 850 graduates, and we hav…AcademiaThe Case Against…
“In addition to selling e-books from their online sites, the stores will be testing numerous methods to cross-market e-books with traditional forms, including in-store kiosks, author appearances and e-book demonstrations.” M. J. Rose —E-Books Are Now on the Shelf Similar:Okay, not my most thrilling #blender3D creation, but a fantasy steampunk ship-of-the-line …DesignGreat Twitter thread on…
go hand in hand; and nobody really wants to slow down progress. Jennifer Kahn —Noise and progress Similar:Filmmakers fighting “Happy Birthday” copyright find their “smoking gun”Who owns the copyright to the “Happy Bir…BusinessNational Dance DayIn the restaurant parking lot after dinn…CultureMTV VMAs: Will Smith Family's Reaction Was to Gaga, Not Miley (Video)I didn’t watch the…
A longtime technology critic has fashioned a prototype of a device that he says could do away with traditional colleges and teachers, replacing them with knowledge-dispensing terminals that look like A.T.M.’s. Jeffrey R. Young —Behold the “Automatic Professor Machine” Similar:Lecturing is So Much Easier than Leading a DiscussionLecturing is So Much Easier than Leading…AcademiaWhat the…
The Navy is providing handheld computers to almost all of its new officers and giving them to graduates of the Naval Academy and other naval programs. CNN.com Similar:Updated Syllabus for Journalism 101By the end of the semester you will be a…AmusingHas life in the age of casual magic made moviegoers numb to the amazing?This is…