We study networks that connect points in geographic space, such as transportation networks and the Internet. We find that there are strong signatures in these networks of topography and use patterns, giving the networks shapes that are quite distinct from one another and from non-geographic networks. We offer an explanation of these differences in terms of the costs and benefits of transportation and communication, and give a simple model based on the Monte Carlo optimization of these costs and benefits that reproduces well the qualitative features of the networks studied.

The spatial structure of networks

The world according to Drucker is no theoretical flight of fancy. It's everybody's new place of residence, whether we are ready for it or not.

The world according to Peter Drucker

"The rest of the cost [beyond $100] is there to support an absolutely obese, overweight, and unreliable operating system. If you get rid of that and start with a thin, tiny operating system you can do an awful lot," Negroponte says.

$100 Laptop

Each touch connects what is essentially an electrical circuit — and each piece of fruit changes the resistance in the circuit. The Cricket measures that electrical resistance and plays a different note each time it changes.

Toy Kit Builds a Craftier Kind of Robot

If MemeStreams is a Social Accounting tool, who will become the Arthur Andersen of culture jamming?

Emerging digital technologies present new opportunities for developing complex cooperative strategies that change the way people work together to solve problems and generate wealth. Central to this class of cooperation-amplifying technologies are eight key clusters, each with distinctive contributions to cooperative strategy:

    Self-organizing mesh networks
    Community computing grids
    Peer production networks
    Social mobile computing
    Group-forming networks
    Social software
    Social accounting tools
    Knowledge collectives

Each of these technology clusters can be viewed not only as a template for design of cooperative systems, but also as tools people can use to tune organizations, projects, processes, and markets for increased cooperation. Specifically, each can be used in distinctive ways to alter the key dimensions of cooperative systems -- structure, rules, resources, thresholds, feedback, memory, and identity.

Technologies of Cooperation [PDF]

Personal memory assistants, always on life recorders, reputation networks and so on -- the pieces of the participatory panopticon -- will thrust us into a world that is both painful and seductive. It will be a world of knowing that someone may always be recording your actions. It will be a world where official misbehavior will be ever more difficult to hide. It will be a world where your relationships are tested by relentless honesty. It will be a world where you will never worry about forgetting a name, or a number, or a face. It will be a world in which it is difficult or even impossible to hide. It will be a world where you’ll never again lose a fleeting moment of unexpected beauty.

The Rise of the Participatory Panopticon

Mixing together anecdotes, graphics, and fables, Rucker teases out the implications of his new worldview, which he calls "universal automatism." His analysis reveals startling aspects of the everyday world, touching upon such topics as chaos, the internet, fame, free will, and the pursuit of happiness. More than a popular science book, The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul is a philosophical entertainment that teaches us how to enjoy our daily lives to the fullest possible extent.

The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul

There are networks in almost every part of our lives. Some of them are familiar and obvious: the Internet, the power grid, the road network. Others are less obvious but just as important. The patterns of friendships or acquaintances between people form a social network. Boards of Directors join together in networks of corporations. The workings of the body's cells are dictated by a metabolic network of chemical reactions. In recent years, sociologists, physicists, biologists, and others have learned how to probe these networks and uncover their structures, shedding light on the inner workings of systems ranging from bacteria to the whole of human society. This lecture looks at some new discoveries regarding networks, how these discoveries were made, and what they tell us about the way the world works.

The Internet, Epidemics, and Kevin Bacon: The Emerging Science of Networks

As reality television becomes ubiquitous, being unknown becomes cool. Oprah proclaims that "Anonymity Is the New Fame," and the hottest new program is a worldwide search for someone who has never been on television.

Hey, that's my idea! Conan O'Brien stole my idea. He's so derivative ...

The Future of Television, by Conan O'Brien

I have quite unexpectedly fallen in love with this album. On first impression, it didn't make the cut; I briefly sampled it at a retail music store and decided to pass on it. Recently, I ambled onto it through Rhapsody, and this time I gave it a bit more attention.

It was time well spent, and of late, I have played this album more than any other. Perhaps you'll enjoy it, too.

Carla Bruni is probably the most famous model in France, the former companion of famous people such as Eric Clapton and Donald Trump.

But what matters is, are the songs any good? And yes they are. The idiom is somewhere between singer-songwriter and a dinner-jazz version of Django Reinhardt: a guitar equivalent of Norah Jones, sung in French.

For some, the idea of listening to songs in another language is akin to watching a ball game in which the ball is invisible: meaningless and frustrating. For me, it works the other way round. Freed from following the words, I am ready to be lured by the sound of the singer's voice, alert to the interplay between voice and instruments.

This review is so on-point. I couldn't agree more.

But even when we don't understand the exact meaning of the words or even the general theme of a song, there's still a sense of being carried along by the singer's conviction. An Italian whose French sounds impeccable, Carla Bruni sings softly, thoughtfully, enjoying the game of finding words that have opposite or ambiguous meanings, and resolving unusual rhymes. The standout song is 'Le toi du moi', a tour de force in which she matches more than 50 pairs of words, one for you, one for me, rhyming the second and fourth word each time. Bob Dylan or Ian Dury would have smacked their lips in satisfaction had they written it.

I've been living with this album on and off for almost a year now, during which time it has sold nearly two million copies in France and spread into Italy and Spain. Far from wearing out its charm, it has stealthily slipped into my blood, and will do the same to anyone else prepared to yield and surrender to its delicate beauty.

Carla Bruni: Quelqu'un m'a dit