Category: thinking + zen

Google’s Earth by William Gibson

Steve

William Gibsons OP-ED contribution in the NYT’s is great — a must read.

“Google’s Earth — By WILLIAM GIBSON

… We never imagined that artificial intelligence would be like this. We imagined discrete entities. Genies. We also seldom imagined (in spite of ample evidence) that emergent technologies would leave legislation in the dust, yet they do. In a world characterized by technologically driven change, we necessarily legislate after the fact, perpetually scrambling to catch up, while the core architectures of the future, increasingly, are erected by entities like Google.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/opinion/01gibson.html?_r=1&hp

BPGlobalPR is genius

Steve

Great update: Words from the man behind @BPGlobalPR himself — http://streetgiant.com/2010/06/02/leroy-stick-the-man-behind-bpglobalpr/

One of my favourite current pieces of satire/commentary is from @BPGlobalPR discussing the recent oil spill. It’s so good they now have almost 60,000 followers and BP is trying to have it shut down.

“After oil started spewing into the Gulf of Mexico following the BP oil rig explosion almost a month ago, a Twitter account launched purporting to be BP’s public relations group, @BPGlobalPR. The account, which offers dark, satirical commentary about the spill and cleanup efforts, is run by an anonymous person” — Mashable article

https://twitter.com/BPGlobalPR

SXSW day 3 report

Steve

Another post from Austin, TX — SXSW 2010.

During a panel today, a new buzzword (to me at least) popped up…

"Data Exhaust"

This is the by-product of you interacting with the internet. When you search Google, when you create content, when you tweet, when you update your favourite app, you leave behind a trail of bits that slowly dissipate. These include logs & caches, content that references your content, metrics and date time/stamps and other sorts of tailings.

That "exhaust" from your interaction is valuable, it can be mined for info even if that data has been anonymized. It can make other people quite a bit of money. Some people disagree that this should be the de facto way everything works.

I’m no expert in any of this, but when the term came up my first immediate reaction was, how does this relate to driving a gas guzzling car that creates the fumes the buzzword references?

Should we be concerned about reducing this emission? Is there such a thing as ZERO emissions interaction with the net? Should it be your right to have that? Or would a complete anonymization remove all useful functionality? Will we see a movement towards a "clean" internet, where you at least have control of that emission or can choose how much is spewing out behind you, without slowing you down?

http://www.plankdesign.com/en/blog/posts/sxsw_day_3_2010

Old Surf Movies: Bali and Hawaii (1978-1980)

Steve1 Comment

Beautiful nostalgia.

Old Surf Movies: Bali and Hawaii (1978-1980) From: DrAbalone

Home surfing movies I made with my brother, Craig Tissot, during a trip to Bali in 1978 and Hawaii in 1979-80. Bali: Kuta Beach, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu. Hawaii: Honolua Bay, Haleiwa, Ala Moana. You had to hike to Ulu back in those days. Shot with Sony 8mm camera with Ikleite housing. All footage by Brian & Craig Tissot. Music by Tony Kaltenberg.”

Couple more great ones on Dr. Abalone’s channel | Thanks to Special J for turning me on