“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:How to Reduce Racial Bias in Grading (Use Objective Rubrics)To gauge the potential impact of a stand…AcademiaWhy We’ll Never Live in SpaceAs much as I…
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:A stranger approached me today.A stranger approached me today. I was a…CultureVote for your favorite Monopoly token — or else!One of the six current game pieces will …AestheticsThe Business…
“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:Academics want to preserve video games. The game industry is fighting them in court.For…
(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:I feel juvenile enough today that this…
“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:PHD Comics: It's in the syllabus PHD Comics: It’s in the syllab…AcademiaIn the Era of…
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:Adding a media project to a semester-long paper assignment is like adding a jetpack to a d…AcademiaBlue Feed, Red FeedFacebook is designed to keep your attent…CultureFacebook Finally Rolls Out 'Disputed…
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:William Shakespeare’s Star WarsBecause apparently I am not already nerd…AestheticsFacebook…
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:Life in Code and Software (Open Humanities Press)This book explores the relationship betw…AcademiaWhat If the Newspaper Industry Made a Colossal Mistake?This…
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:R.I.P. Blogging, Killed By Screenshorts Are screenshorts slowly killing bloggi…CybercultureVincent Connare, Inventor Of 'The Most Hated Font,' Defends HimselfA typographic…
“Content certainly has all the glamor. What content does not have is money.” Andrew Odlyzko. —Content is Not King. Similar:Email (finding the right tone as a writer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXlgO…CybercultureRemember That Class Assignment I Hated? The One That Landed Me My Dream Job?ME (a couple years ago): Okay, students….AcademiaThink Before You Tweet In the Wake of an…
Tom Van Vleck. (Rather dry reading, but offers an opposing view to The First E-Mail Message) —The History of Electronic Mail Similar:You don’t hate millennials. You hate 21st-century technology.A favorite observation about millennials…CultureWriting, Coding and Education: Why They MatterBack in my grad school days, I was calle…AcademiaIn June, 2001 it seems I only blogged three…
A reporter drops in on a Britney Spears chat room and talks about politics. Sort of. —You are in BRITNEY SPEARS Similar:Amanda Knox responds to high-profile movie profiting off of her nameAmerican student Amanda Knox was wrongfu…CultureFatworld ReviewOn Jan 14, Ian Bogost of Persuasive Game…CybercultureHemingway: The First Draft of Anything… Facebook.AmusingTrektacular Google DoodleAmusing14 questions for…
“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:Why Our Brains Make Us Click on ListsThe article-as-numbered-list has several…CultureThe intelligence coup of the century:…
go hand in hand; and nobody really wants to slow down progress. Jennifer Kahn —Noise and progress Similar:Great Twitter thread on Aaron Burr, from the Internet ArchiveFunny what you find in books. When digit…AwesomeWhat TV journalists did wrong — and the New York Times did right — in meeting with TrumpThe Times played it right….…
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:University disavows chocolate milk, concussions studyThe University of Maryland on Friday dis…AcademiaA tiny bit of rogue…
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:SPJ Journalist’s Toolbox Tools of the Month: Transcription favoritesTechnology is wonderful. My journalism s…JournalismGoodby big Android… hello little budget iPhone SE 3rd.I just removed from my syllabus template…AcademiaComputers…
More proof that the apocalypse is nigh: “Typing of the Dead” is a typing tutorial that also just so happens to be 3-D computerized gorefest. GamesDoman review of Typing of the Dead. Similar:Blogging is NOT Analog Writing in Digital SpacesBlogging in education is about quality a…CybercultureVIRUS DIARY: For these kids, no adventures to choose BURKE,…