| |
| "The future masters of technology will have to be lighthearted and intelligent. The machine easily masters the grim and the dumb." -- Marshall McLuhan, 1969 |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Media |
7:07 pm EDT, May 8, 2004 |
Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. A treemap visualization algorithm helps display the enormous amount of information gathered by the aggregator. Treemaps are traditionally space-constrained visualizations of information. Newsmap's objective takes that goal a step further and provides a tool to divide information into quickly recognizable bands which, when presented together, reveal underlying patterns in news reporting across cultures and within news segments in constant change around the globe. Newsmap does not pretend to replace the googlenews aggregator. Its objective is to simply demonstrate visually the relationships between data and the unseen patterns in news media. It is not thought to display an unbiased view of the news; on the contrary, it is thought to ironically accentuate the bias of it. newsmap |
|
The Relationship Revolution |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Society |
7:06 pm EDT, May 8, 2004 |
The term "Information Revolution" is a misnomer. All who want to succeed in this new environment must stop thinking of networks and digital technologies as media for managing information and start thinking of them as media to manage relationships. To say that the Internet is about "information" is a bit like saying that "cooking" is about oven temperatures; it's technically accurate but fundamentally untrue. While it is true that digital technologies have completely transformed the world of information into readily manipulable bits and bytes, it is equally true that the genuine significance of these technologies isn't rooted in the information they process and store. A dispassionate assessment of the impact of digital technologies on popular culture, financial markets, health care, telecommunications, transportation and organizational management yields a simple observation: The biggest impact these technologies have had, and will have, is on relationships between people and between organizations. Gutenberg's technology wasn't merely about producing compendia of information. It was about transforming traditional relationships between the People, their Church and the State. Five centuries later, the point endures: When it comes to the impact of new media, the importance of information is subordinate to the importance of community. New kinds of relationships between networks create new kinds of relationships between people. That is the essential tension of the revolution taking place. The irony of our so-called Information Age: Information itself offers value only when presented in the context of particular relationships. New technologies push and test the meaning of concepts like relationship, community and interpersonal expression. The real future of digital technologies and networks rests with the architects of great relationships. MemeStreams is a core Internet technology. MemeStreams will help you manage relationships, namespace, and other critical communication and relationship concepts. The Relationship Revolution |
|
Losing Our Technical Dominance |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Society |
7:03 pm EDT, May 8, 2004 |
There are signs that the United States is losing ground to foreign competitors. Fewer and fewer young Americans seem interested in technical careers. The administration seems misguided ... Most important, the decline in the number of Americans training to become scientists and engineers suggests the need to reinvigorate science education in the public schools. Losing Our Technical Dominance |
|
The Abu Ghraib Prison Photos |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: War on Terrorism |
6:55 pm EDT, May 8, 2004 |
This Meme is currently on the 3rd page of Google results for "abu ghraib prison photos". This whole prison photo situation makes me sick. [U: For the record, I don't think Rumsfeld should resign or anything like that. We are in the middle of a war. This situation appears to have been addressed before the public heard about it as is. ] The Abu Ghraib Prison Photos |
|
National Science Panel Warns of Far Too Few New Scientists |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Technology |
6:52 pm EDT, May 8, 2004 |
The United States faces a major shortage of scientists because too few Americans are entering technical fields and because international competition is heating up for bright foreigners who once filled the gap. The solution is for the United States to work harder at developing its own scientific talent. But a board report shows declining interest among young Americans in science careers. The board in its report noted "a troubling decline" in the number of Americans training to be scientists and said such trends "threaten the economic welfare and security of our country." The 2004 report on indicators says the US ranks 17th among nations surveyed in the share of its 18-to-24-year-olds who earn natural science and engineering degrees. "I don't think America is getting fat and lazy," Dr. Richardson remarked. But he added that if the nation failed to make the right investments soon, "we're going to be left behind in a cloud of dust." National Science Panel Warns of Far Too Few New Scientists |
|
NYT - The Internet's Wilder Side - IRC |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Cyber-Culture |
6:43 pm EDT, May 8, 2004 |
] Even as much of the Internet has come to resemble a
] pleasant, well-policed suburb, a little-known
] neighborhood known as Internet Relay Chat remains the
] Wild West. While copyright holders and law enforcement
] agencies take aim at their adversaries on Web sites and
] peer-to-peer file-sharing networks like Napster, I.R.C.
] remains the place where people with something to hide go
] to do business. The NYT on IRC. My first use of the Internet was IRC and news groups. The first command I typed in a unix shell was "irc". NYT - The Internet's Wilder Side - IRC |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: MemeStreams |
1:51 pm EDT, May 4, 2004 |
I spent the last week in an insane asylum. Previous to being checked in, I had gone about five days without sleep. That's on the heels of another visit to the nut house I took down in Atlanta on Saturday at Interz0ne. Ladies and gentlemen, I have found the edge, and it sucks from here. I'm coming back now before I fall right off. As usual, condolences go out to all the people whom I'm scare along the way. This may also be a good time to say, if for some reason I croak in one of my "manic" phases, there is a MemeStreams curse. It will be called the "Messiah Rattle" curse. Its on all the "top users" on the system below the very top Two. Its a binary thing. The system has tasted blood and grey matter, and it will only want more. Tom and Jeremy, you better watch your asses and keep recommending good content. Everyone else is just fucked. You must somehow survive among the mist of popularity. (At the time I typed "popularity", I think I heard Tom laugh all the way in Atlanta..) And don't worry about me, its kinda like Lain. Its neat "over there".. heh heh heh Seriously though.. I will not hurt myself. I will not hurt others. Myself, others, all good.. Really. Seriously! Stop laughing.. And don't touch that phone. Seriously though.. Really. I reserve the right to make sick and twisted jokes in the face of mental illness. I have a massive email backlog right now, and several long rants I need to post of stuff I intended to talk about at Interz0ne related to MemeStreams. I had failing visual aids, insanity (mine and others), alcohol (mine and others), and a complete lack of marijuana, all working against me. There are several people who have expressed interest in working on the project with us, and this is good. As I have done a good job of proving, while I may be very good at coming up with ideas, I have the tendency to go off the (very) deep end every so often and wind up in a mental hospital. Such is life. A project/service of any worth must be able to deal with these problems in order to scale. I am going to give myself a day or two of mental recovery before fully re-engaging, but I hope to have at the very least a list of serious tasks that must be done in order to get things moving along. I'll be sending various people some email's soon. If you were someone I spoke to at Interz0ne about the project, email me just so I have your contact information on record. [U: One thing I care to be clear about. s/insane/crazy/ .. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I am clearly crazy, because I choose to do things in ways that are well, a little farther over the edge then most. I'll behave better. ] |
|
MemeStreams logo for Nokia 3650 |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: MemeStreams |
8:01 pm EDT, Apr 21, 2004 |
This is a copy of the MemeStreams logo in the correct size for being set as the background on a Nokia 3650 mobile phone. MemeStreams logo for Nokia 3650 |
|
Skateboarding Dog - Future Animal Star we will eventually be sick of |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Humor |
6:39 pm EDT, Apr 21, 2004 |
This is a video of a dog that can skateboard. Yes, you read that right. Skateboard. Ahem.. Let me make one of those predictions that I make all the time, and tend to be right. Either that, or they tend to be forgotten. But whatever, I make them all the time and I only seem to get called on them when they are right. Either via David Lettermen's stupid pet tricks, or some random television advertisement, America will be exposed to this dog. Maybe this Windows Media file will be the vector. It doesn't matter. America will love this dog. As another example of "asking for techno" we will be pounded over the head with stuff involving this dog until we want to see it hung in our respective local town squares. Just a hunch. (... this is pretty neat.) Skateboarding Dog - Future Animal Star we will eventually be sick of |
|
