August 25, 2010

School Daze, Plugged In and Zoned Out

School Daze, Plugged In and Zoned Out


By Alan Caruba

The older you get the faster time seems to speed by. One minute you’re talking about the Baby Boom generation, 1946 to 1964, and the next it’s Generation X, 1965-1983. If the Boomers thought the world owed them a living, the Gen X’rs were all about “relationships” and the “environment.”

Before you knew it, it was the Generation Y, often referred to as the Millennials, 1984-2002, that everyone was talking about and trying to sell crap to. The oldest of these are age 26 and the youngest age 8. Most young people think the world exists for them, but Generation Y has more reason to believe this than their parents and grandparents. Continue reading School Daze, Plugged In and Zoned Out

August 24, 2010

The Gaslight Journal is Done

Begun back sometime in 2001, this book was originally a fluke of an idea… [...]

July 15, 2010

The Little Site

The Little Site

by Bob Grant

The Little Site that thought they could,

went online to do some good.

Started out with ups and downs,

got some smiles – got some frowns.

Writers came and writers went,

Some to speak and some to vent.

Limits none on what to post,

Theory was we’d get [...]

June 14, 2010

HOW EASY IS IT TO BUILD A WEB PAGE?

Can little Joey really build you something that will work for you? [...]

June 7, 2010

Newspapers die, journalism rises

I don’t know what is happening in other parts of the world, but in Britain there is a dispute between the news aggregators, such as NewsNow, and the so-called Fleet Street newspapers (the nationals) because the national dailies wish to prevent the news aggregators linking to their free content without paying for the privilege.

The least one can say of this initiative is that it is peevish and curmudgeonly and, up until now, you might even have described it as stupid.

But not any more.

It is suicidal.

Not only can Digg and StumbleUpon waltz around these restrictions, as can Facebook and Twitter, but a new form of open citizens’ journalism is emerging. Continue reading Newspapers die, journalism rises

May 17, 2010

Too Much News, Too Much War

Many Saturdays as a young girl I was given the reward of spending the afternoon with my dad at the paper where he was the city editor. It was more than the joy of getting away from younger siblings and the chores being the oldest brought me. It was a place that I got to get the news before anyone else. Before the national news made the paper it came through on the Associated Press machine, a ticking time-bomb in my dad’s office that printed out the news in a flash. I would go there and sit with a pile of paper in my lap that covered everything that was happening in the world. Sometimes I couldn’t believe all the things that were happening, and weren’t getting reported on in a daily black newspaper. In fact sometimes things weren’t reported in any of the local papers at all. It was as if keeping the public in the dark about some news was the best way to keep the country focused on national issues of importance.

Today we have our own buttons to leaking news with computers, instant news and messaging and cell phones that will alert you when a celebrity has a baby or when a celebrity takes a drink. It is news faster than the old AP machines could peck out. It’s too much news that brings us so much information. And a lot of that information is about war. Continue reading Too Much News, Too Much War

May 14, 2010

It's Just Little Girls Dancing- But There's the Rub

I am about to be practical, historical and honest. All in the same post. I am really sick of hearing about the 8 and 9 year old girls clad in skimpy costumes dancing to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”. It has made the news, the polls, Youtube and things that make you go umm. Let’s be honest, it is just dancing and good dancing at that. But if it wasn’t for the advances we have in communications, law enforcement, the study of the mind and racism we wouldn’t be so concerned about little girls dancing in something a bit more than bathing suits. Continue reading It’s Just Little Girls Dancing- But There’s the Rub

March 29, 2010

DJ: An App For The Typical User

DJ: An App For The Typical User

So a few weeks ago I got to review a mac app called DJ by Rhythm software. Basically, its iTunes enhanced.

It pictures a very similar look, with a table of your songs on one side, and a DJ table in the middle. First you import all [...]

March 24, 2010

Google’s China play? Search me

By recklessly inserting Hong Kong in the middle of its fight with Beijing, corporate hypocrite Google recklessly put Hong Kong’s autonomy at risk for no sensible reason. [...]

March 20, 2010

Is There a Place?

Is There a Place?

by Bob Grant

Is there a place where minds can meet?

Is there a place where thoughts can greet?

Is there a place where debate takes place?

Is there a place for all kinds of race?

Is there a place where discussions are real?

Is there a place for passions [...]

March 10, 2010

NEW UK DIGITAL BILL TO FOLLOW US’S DMCA RIGHTS AND SPELL DISASTER FOR YOUTUBE?

NEW UK DIGITAL BILL TO FOLLOW US’S DMCA RIGHTS AND SPELL DISASTER FOR YOUTUBE?

by Jorge Paez

 

THere is a report out from Guardian news, that the very unpopular Digital Bill in the UK has just been updated to include several copyright additions, some of which may lead to the closure of user generated content sites like Youtube.

This amendment follows a looser version which was struck down by the Lords earlier this week. Instead of directly prohibiting sites such as youtube from existing as the first attempt did, this would give the court total and absolute power in regards to copyright material. In this version, sites that have or are known for containing any type of material which has not been authorized by the copyright holder, (such as Lime Wire, and Youtube) would be shut down with legal action. This could potentially lead to a strike order banning Youtube from any and all ISPs. (internet service providers) Continue reading NEW UK DIGITAL BILL TO FOLLOW US’S DMCA RIGHTS AND SPELL DISASTER FOR YOUTUBE?

February 9, 2010

Would you accept this Challenge?

My daughter – of whom I am extremely proud – is teaching gifted students in a middle school.  She has offered the following challenge to them (with this confirming e-mail to parents) - would you accept, and adhere, to this challenge:

Currently, we are studying one of the Five Themes of Geography:  Movement.  In today’s [...]

February 1, 2010

The attack of the alien multi-media book snatchers

 

It is hard to believe sitting here today, but in 2-3 years’ time paper books simply won’t exist.

I love paper books. Specifically, I love paperbacks. As they say about Toblerone, never eat a sweet that hurts you – so I am not so fond of hardbacks as being uncomfortable and often painful to hold. But paperbacks ……

As with many authors, I read my own books about 30 times – 28 times electronically, and a couple of times in paperback. The first twenty-eight times are OK, except that even I get bored of my books eventually. However, the 29th (final correction) and 30th times are heaven. It is a completely different experience reading a book in paperback. As Steve Sangirardi is always keen to point out, it is the difference between the menu and the meal. Reading about the sensation of eating chocolate is one thing; actually eating it for the first time is another.

Nevertheless, in 2-3 years’ time paperbacks will be gone – almost completely – vanished like an old oak table [don’t you mean ‘varnished’ – ed? For the rest of this reference, see the TV series Blackadder III]. New technology takeover is often catastrophic. It is like the Monty Python running man – sprinting away but no closer – sprinting away but no closer – sprinting away but no closer – past you. Continue reading The attack of the alien multi-media book snatchers

February 1, 2010

February 2010 (Map Overview – Previous 12 Months)

Below are the results – from Google Analytics – for our SWI site showing the countries where visits have originated over the past 12 months:

Visits

53,629

% of Site Total: 100.00%

Pages/Visit
The average number of pages viewed during a visit to your site. Repeated views of a single page are counted.

Pages/Visit

2.40

Site Avg: 2.40 (0.00%)

Avg. Time on Site
The average duration of a visit to your site.

Avg. Time on Site

00:03:52

Site Avg: 00:03:52 (0.00%)

% New Visits
The percentage of visits by people who had never visited your site before.

% New Visits

61.49%

Site Avg: 61.47% (0.02%)

Bounce Rate
The percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page).

Bounce Rate

64.67%

Site Avg: 64.67% (0.00%)

 
Detail Level:
Country/Territory

Visits
Pages/Visit
Avg. Time on Site
% New Visits
Bounce Rate
1. 39,795 2.61 00:04:24 56.70% 61.49%
2. 2,045 1.42 00:00:52 85.23% 83.96%
3. 1,952 1.58 00:01:30 78.48% 74.69%
4. 1,190 2.98 00:05:20 63.53% 65.21%
5.
(not set)
1,048 2.65 00:06:59 21.76% 43.99%
6. 791 1.53 00:01:20 94.31% 77.88%
7. 729 1.49 00:01:05 86.15% 81.34%
8. 475 2.83 00:05:24 18.74% 53.05%
9. 444 1.98 00:02:54 83.33% 69.37%
10. 366 1.43 00:01:34 90.71% 80.05% Continue reading February 2010 (Map Overview – Previous 12 Months)

January 29, 2010

PASSWORDS

And how we manage them. [...]

January 24, 2010

Google Recycled

Google Recycled by Lloyd Lofthouse

Last week, the media buzzed about Google being hacked and censored. Google threatened to leave China if this didn’t stop.  Obama and Secretary of State Clinton demanded that China fess up.

What’s going on?  It isn’t as if Google is the primary search engine in China. In fact, this claim [...]

January 19, 2010

DOES YOUTUBE MATTER?

DOES YOUTUBE MATTER?

By Jorge Paez

First, you have to understand several things about the “new” music industry if you seek $$$. 1. It is no longer a “Sony Music” market. Its a “who makes the best music” and “why should I care to listen” market. This is where you, the indie artist working [...]

January 16, 2010

Human Mind and Internet Mind

Human Mind and Internet Mind

by Richard G. Geldard

It appears we human beings are having a crisis of identity. The culprit is the Internet. In the current issue of Harper’s Jaron Lanier, author of You are Not a Gadget has this to say about the web: “…it is the idea that the Internet as a whole is coming alive and turning into a superhuman creature.” Lanier’s book comes out at a time when the Internet is becoming the focus of serious philosophical investigation. On Edge.org, John Brockman’s informal collection of some of the world’s interesting minds, the current question is “Has the Internet changed the way you think?”

Brockman begins the inquiry by quoting the avant garde musician John Cage as proposing “There’s only one mind, the one we all share.” One thinks of Jung’s collective unconscious becoming conscious.

The one mind idea, however, is a very ancient one, emerging from the Hindu Vedas and the Pre-Socratic Greek thinkers. Historically, it comes under the heading of Panpsychism, which according to – you guessed  it – the Internet, is “the doctrine that mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists throughout the universe.” Another example is the first sentence of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “History:” “There is one mind common to all individual men.” And Emerson meant a universal mind. Continue reading Human Mind and Internet Mind