Making Networks Do the Work

I don’t get overly excited about plug-ins but I think Xoopit may have shifted us into a new gear. As part of a course I teach on journalist tools I do a demo of Gmail. I talk about it being the new desktop. But I’m only showing the bare bones of the thing: labels, filters, … Read more

Radio Australia Topics, Feb 20 2009

Here’s what I’m talking about on today’s (shortened) Breakfast Club: Facebook backtracks on privacy policy after user uproar. I’m not convinced users really understand the bigger picture Hurray. Mobile phone makers agree to make a single charger.  

Virus Grounds French Fighters

Here’s more evidence of how vulnerable armed forces are to software attacks, intended or not. The French navy’s fighter jets “were unable to download their flight plans after databases were infected by a Microsoft virus they had already been warned about several months beforehand,” according to the Telegraph: However, the French navy admitted that during … Read more

Scan a Bed Time Story for Me, Daddy

This is up there among the lamest products of the year: a scanner that will convert a book to speech. Well actually, it sounds quite good. I’d imagined a device that could flip the pages over while you sit back nursing a Scotch. When everything’s done the scanner converts the text to “high quality speech … Read more

The Failure of the Open Field

It’s great that Apple has created a new platform with the iPhone and the App Store. But it’s also a ripping indictment of the personal computer industry—and cellphone industry—thus far. And not to be too nice to Apple: The beautiful stuff we’re seeing with the iPhone is mainly about pastime—not about productivity (or creativity.) Here’s … Read more