81%
For millennia the human mind has been seen as a complex puzzle whose mysteries are waiting to be understood by the fortunate few who can unlock them. Some of the greatest thinkers humanity has every produced have committed their lives to this pursuit. Continue reading
On July 3rd, 1995 The Economist wrote “[i]n its audacious uselessness – and that of thousands of ego trips like it – lie the seeds of the Internet revolution…” to describe the “profound” fish tank webcam that had been set-up at the headquarters of Netscape Communications in mid-1994. This, among with another 3,000-4,000 sites, formed the beginning of what many people today can identify as the Internet and/or the World-Wide Web. In addition, this was one of the very first instances of something truly frivolous being shared on the high-speed computer network that over two billion people connect to on a daily basis. Continue reading
The positive role of technology in the UK riots || “U.K. Prime Minister Suggests ‘Pre-Crime’ Blocking of Social Media” http://ow.ly/61j0R
In addition to investigating how technology aimed at preemptively disrupting criminal activities organized via Twitter and Blackberry Messenger, the authorities in the UK have also married their extensive CCTV network with Flickr to help enlist the public to identify suspected looters. A complete Internet shutdown has proven to be ineffective in countries throughout the Middle East during the recent periods of unrest, so a targeted solution that was able to determine if a person was in the midst of planning criminal activity and then shut down that person’s access might do the trick. Alas the execution of such a thing is fraught with technical and logistical challenges (not to be confused with impossible). That said the UK is not ruled by an autocratic despot was the case in more than one of the aforementioned Middle Eastern nations, so the notions of privacy and civil liberties are much more of a significant issue that needs to be balanced with the sovereign responsibility to protect the health and welfare of one’s citizens. I do not envy the decisions that have to be made by Mr. Cameron.
Image via Wikipedia
Three quarters of a billion customers, that has to be a record || “Facebook hits 750 million users milestone” http://ow.ly/5qNni
Image via CrunchBase
The scale Facebook brings to the social coupon market is staggering – “The Daily Deals Bandwagon Dissected” http://ow.ly/4Kayg
Technology is the tail, not the dog – “There’s no such thing as ‘social media revolution’” http://ht.ly/3LWBp #Facebook #Twitter
Twitter adds photos & video to its bag of tricks – “Twitter.com Goes Media-Rich” http://ht.ly/2EwpQ #socialmedia
