"While browsing the Web is a widespread everyday activity there is a shortage of detailed understanding of how users organise their Web usage. In this paper we present results from a qualitative in-depth interview study of how users browse the Web and combine browsing with their other activities. The data are used to explore three particular problems which users have with browsing the Web. Firstly, users have problems managing their favourites, and in particular accessing their favourites through a hierarchical menu. Second, users have problems with combining information across different Web sites - what we call the "meta-task" problem. Third, users have concerns with security and privacy, although these concerns seem to change as users become more experienced with shopping on the Web. We discuss three concepts which address these problems: "home page favourites", "Web clipping" and the "Web card". These concepts are attempts at incremental improvements to the Web without affecting the Web's essential simplicity."

Exploring Users' Experiences of the Web

"The program would be administered by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health," said Kurzweil. "It would have a budget equaling the current budget for NSF and NIH."

Kurzweil proposes national defense program for GNR

"Telecommunications companies have been writing down the value of assets only recently acquired for billions of dollars. This is a painful move, but it signals a new, and healthy, realism"

Financial news and analysis on telecoms worldwide including NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Marconi, Telecom Italia, Siemens, Alcatel, Lucent, Ericsson, France Telecom, ...

Telecom Writeoffs Are Healthy | The Economist, November 19

"A philosopher by training, Daniel C. Dennett is known as the leading proponent of the computational model of the mind. He has made significant contributions in fields as diverse as evolutionary theory, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, animal studies, computer science among others. Never one to avoid a good fight, he has clashed with such noted thinkers as John Searle, Roger Penrose, and Stephen Jay Gould. In this regard, Dennett is emblematic of the third culture intellectual.The strength of the third culture is precisely that it can tolerate disagreements about which ideas are to be taken seriously. There is no canon or accredited list of acceptable ideas. Unlike previous intellectual pursuits, the achievements of the third culture are not the marginal disputes of a quarrelsome mandarin class: they affect the lives of everybody on the planet."

Published on November 19 at edge.org.

The Computational Perspective: A Talk With Daniel Dennett

As we move into ... a less-protectionist cycle of intellectual property policy, Lessig's book will serve as an excellent guide.

Opening Arguments: WashPost reviews _The Future of Ideas_

If you are ever approached by a bunch of over-eager white guys in a white van who try to sell you ("cheap!!!") a set of surround-sound speakers straight out of the van, ... mock them laughingly and offer to sell them some dot-com stock.

(Scroll down to the "consumer reviews" section of the page.)

Tom: Do you remember these guys in Atlanta?

Beware the white van

(Do you think WebMD and Eli Lily would be willing [and able] to provide 30 days of free Prozac for an entire state? We may soon know ...)

California has been suffering ... Even good news is bad news. ... California is a famously rewarding source of drive-by anthropology. ... In truth this great freak show of a state embodies all the generalizations and defies them, depending on which valley you visit. ... Bright young techies are voting with their U-Hauls ... Optimists will tell you that Silicon Valley has always been cyclical ...

"Failure is an essential part of our ecosystem," said Paul Saffo, a Menlo Park technology forecaster. "It's like a forest fire burning space for new growth." [Saffo runs the Institute for the Future.]

[A recent opinion poll expressed] "a wish that things will be O.K. ... I don't want to call it denial, but it is not really sustainable."

In a State of Denial

Having a bad day? Stuff yourself with raw fish and feel refreshed!

"Scientists think they have evidence that fish oil could cure mental disorders such as depression and dyslexia -- conditions increasingly common in the Western world."

Perhaps this explains why Tux always looks so happy ...

Depressed? Eat Some Sushi, Scientists Say

"An Italian research team has developed an optical control method that alters the structure of green fluorescent protein (GFP), which allows the fabrication of single-biomolecule optical toggle switches, offering the possibility of biological memory devices."

A subscription to APL is required for access to full text. For a news article about this paper (from which the above summary was excerpted), see

    http://www.edtneurope.com/printableArticle?doc_id=OEG20011114S0030

Abstract: "A single-biomolecule optical toggle switch is demonstrated based on a mutated green fluorescent protein (GFP). We have exploited molecular biology techniques to tailor the GFP molecular structure and photophysical properties and to give it optically controlled bistability between two distinct states. We present optical control of the fluorescence dynamics with two laser beams at 476 and 350 nm down to the ultimate limit of single molecules. These results indicate that GFP-class fluorophores are promising candidates for the realization of biomolecular devices such as volumetric optical memories and optical switches"

Green fluorescent proteins as optically controllable elements in bioelectronics

TechTV reports on the recent Pew study, "The Dot-com Meltdown and the Web." The story contains a link to the full report, which is available in PDF.

Survey finds most Internet users seek out free alternatives when their favorite sites start charging.

The dot-com shakeout has resulted in some websites charging fees to access content, but few Americans have been willing to pay, according to a survey released Wednesday.

About 17 percent of Internet users, or about 19 million people, have been asked to pay for access to website content that used to be free, but half found free alternatives, while 12 percent pay, and the rest just decide to stop getting that content or service from an online source, according to a study by the Pew Internet & Life Project."

Few Willing to Pay for Web Content