This is a strange little book that covers the life of Mark Weiser, a man who the author seems to believe occupies a pivotal role in the history of personal computing. Whether the author’s belief is warranted—or if indeed the entire book is warranted—is something I couldn’t quite decide by the time I reached the end of it.
Read MoreElon Musk “long ago decided that for humanity to have a future, it must expand to other worlds”…a premise which is kind of nuts if one thinks about it for more than a few seconds but there seems to be no doubt that Musk believes it. This belief was his prime motivation for founding a company that could build the hardware to make that wild dream a reality. “Liftoff” is the story of the first few years of his effort to build the company we now know as SpaceX.
Read MoreApropos of absolutely nothing, here are pics of my antique camera collection. I've got a thing for Polaroids. Mostly included here because if I don't archive them somewhere, they'll be lost.
In 2015 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted the Open Internet Order in which Internet service providers were banned from discriminating against different types of traffic or charging big Internet companies like Netflix and Amazon for the privilege of having their content delivered by higher speed connections. Having been enacted and maintained by popular public support, net neutrality laws are nevertheless under constant attack from corporate service providers and politicians alike.
Read MoreFor a media ethics class I'm taking, I was given an assignment to "persuade the audience to be either for or against big data." What made it fun was that I was told I could select the format I wanted to use to present the argument: a presentation, an essay or any other format I'd like. There's nothing better than to be given free reign with respect to format. Naturally, I chose to present my argument in the form of a Peanuts strip.
Read MoreIn the absence of a method to prevent the live streaming of murders and other violence, Zuckerberg remains personally responsible for the consequences of this service offering. By not suspending the service until a screening system is in place and functioning, he has made the decision that the ethical problems associated with Facebook Live are subordinate to the monetary benefit it confers to his company.
Read MoreThe modern designer is faced with an ethical dilemma: follow an employer’s demands for a money-making app that turns the user’s smartphone against them...or mindfully develop apps that put the smartphone back into the service of its owner. Turn it back into a tool instead of an invader.
Read MoreThe Internet demands to be fed. Your career likely demands that you feed it. You are what your Internet record says about you which is why we're all personal brand managers now. We have to prove that we're active, that we go to interesting places and do interesting things. We're competing against the next fellow who's aggressively marketing himself. We redouble our efforts to catch up. On one hand, this is a boon to those who are looking to stand out. On the other, it's a new infringement on personal time as we're leashed to a data vortex that demands constant intake.
Read MorePrivate citizens are using the power of their mobile devices to influence the programming decisions made by commercial news and entertainment outlets. They’re using it to record and break the news themselves, augmenting -- or even circumventing -- the established media.
Read MorePeople are the weak link in the automobile ecosystem. If we weren’t part of the control loop, things would be safer. A lot safer. It’s estimated that 94 percent of the world’s yearly 1.2 million automotive deaths involve human error. We’re uncorrectable bugs in the system, you and me. We get into accidents once every 500,000 miles, and cause fatalities once every 1.3 million miles. But the software that’s driving autonomous cars? It was performing at levels equal to or better than that error rate three years ago.
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