MetaFilter posts tagged with tech

The Economist: The World in 2010

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:09:43 -0800

In 2010, Obama will have a miserable year, NATO may lose in Afghanistan, the UK gets a regime change, China needs to chill, India's factories will overtake its farms, Europe risks becoming an irrelevant museum, the stimulus will need an exit strategy, the G20 will see a challenge from the "G2", African football will unite Korea, conflict over natural resources will grow, Sarkozy will be unloved and unrivalled, the kids will come together to solve the world's problems (because their elders are unable), technology will grow ever more ubiquitous, we'll all charge our phones via USB, MBAs will be uncool, the Space Shuttle will be put to rest, and Somalia will be the worst country in the world. And so the Tens begin.

The Economist: The World in 2010. Previously: 2009, 2008, 2007. How did we do last time around? Guest contributions: President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso lines up Europe's priorities President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev argues for dialogue and cooperation President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed wants his island nation to remain above water President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would like for Islam and the West to live in harmony President of South Africa Jacob Zuma says Africa should rise to the occasion Director-General of the World Health Organisation Margaret Chan predicts the development of the flu pandemic Managing director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn explains how to prevent another crisis CEO of Yahoo! Carol Bartz believes business leaders should tap into the information flood Chairman of HSBC Stephen Green argues that the financial sector should welcome emerging economies CEO of Fiat Group and Chrysler Group Sergio Marchionne thinks greener cars require bolder action CEO/CTO of SpaceX Elon Musk says the private sector should handle space travel

Reverse the Polarity

Artw — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:00:31 -0800

"Captain, the tech is overteching" - Ron Moore confirms everything you suspected about the Star Trek TNG approach to writing.

They sure don't make nostalgia like they used to anymore.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:42:39 -0800

Punctuality, privacy, dead time, concentration: all dead or dying at the hands of the Internet, according to this list in the Daily Telegraph.

Only at festivals with no Wi-Fi signals can the gullible be tricked into believing that David Hasslehoff [sic] has passed away. Insta-spoiler – the full list, with UK-centric or possibly obscure references linkified: 1) The art of polite disagreement 2) Fear that you are the only person unmoved by a celebrity's death 3) Listening to an album all the way through 4) Sarah Palin 5) Punctuality 6) Ceefax/Teletext 7) Adolescent nerves at first porn purchase 8) Telephone directories 9) The myth of cat intelligence 10) Watches 11) Music stores 12) Letter writing/pen pals 13) Memory 14) Dead time 15) Photo albums and slide shows 16) Hoaxes and conspiracy theories 17) Watching television together 18) Authoritative reference works 19) The Innovations catalogue 20) Order forms in the back pages of books 21) Delayed knowledge of sporting results 22) Enforceable copyright 23) Reading telegrams at weddings 24) Dogging [possibly NSFW] 25) Aren't they dead? Aren't they gay? 26) Holiday news ignorance 27) Knowing telephone numbers off by heart 28) Respect for doctors and other professionals 29) The mystery of foreign languages 30) Geographical knowledge 31) Privacy 32) Chuck Norris's reputation 33) Pencil cricket 34) Mainstream media 35) Concentration 36) Mr Alifi's dignity 37) Personal reinvention 38) Viktor Yanukovych 39) The insurance ring-round 40) Undiscovered artists 41) The usefulness of reference pages at the front of diaries 42) The nervous thrill of the reunion 43) Solitaire 44) Trust in Nigerian businessmen and princes 45) Prostitute calling cards [possibly NSFW]/ kerb crawling 46) Staggered product/film releases 47) Footnotes 48) Grand National trips to the bookmaker 49) Fanzines 50) Your lunchbreak

A Geek Itinerary

netbros — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:58:14 -0800

Technology innovation will be a large part of late 20th century American history. Now the gearheads can explore the roots of all that geekdom. The Geek's Guide to Seattle is a virtual tour of some of the region’s most interesting and notable technology locations. A Geek's Tour of Silicon Valley hits hotspots there. Don't forget The Tech Museum and the Computer History Museum. Back east, there's Research Triangle Park (pdf) in North Carolina, and The Computing Revolution at the Museum of Science in Boston.

Standing out in the crowd.

chunking express — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:07:03 -0800

Standing out in the crowd. Kirrily Robert's keynote from OSCON. She discusses diversity in opensource communities and projects. Her follow up post links to some 'interesting' discussions.

Technology and Innovation

sandking — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:18:20 -0800

Ashoka Tech Blog A blog about women, social entreprenourship and technology (especially in the developing world). Includes such gems as the Peepoo bag.

103: Having a lawn you could tell kids to get off

wendell — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:51:11 -0800

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About a rather comprehensive list, ranging from the gone-and-forgotten (22: Using jumpers to set IRQs) to the not-yet-extinct-but going-there (41: Phone books and Yellow Pages). But missing a few like 101: wired.com not being a nostalgia site and 102: getting punished for calling your dad a geek.

Dork Yearbook

carsonb — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:42:21 -0800

Dork Yearbook - vintage tech pr0n, now with thicker glasses and footsier pajamas!

Shanzhai: I know a genuine Panaphonics when I see one.

milquetoast — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:03:48 -0800

In Chinese, Shanzhai (山寨) literally means "mountain stronghold" and connotes a place with limited accessibility -- i.e. beyond the reach of authorities. In the past couple of years, it has come to refer to the manufacture of illicit tech gadgets by unauthorized factories: show us your shan zhai ji! But shanzhai can be used more broadly to describe knockoff culture, cheeky brand subversion, grassroots industrial creativity, and a certain DIY ethos. The latter may be best exemplified in these videos of a "Shanzhai Glider" in action. Apologies if the Chinese sites are slow-loading or unreachable for Western audiences. Mouse over links for descriptions, if so inclined.

Why Google Employees Quit

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:55:42 -0800

Why Google Employees Quit

Social Networking, Mobile Phones, and Crisis Communication

divabat — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:12:12 -0800

Can social networking be used to effect positive social change? Ushahidi (meaning "testimony" in Swahili) is one such project that harnesses mobile technology to empower local citizens to report on crucial and crisis situations in their area. Started as a mashup of user-generated reports and Google Maps on the post-election crisis in Kenya, it has now been deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa. They are currently working together with other organisations, such as Kiwanja, which uses mobile technology to assist NGO communications and outreach, mobile programming education, and gorilla conservation. Currently they're collaborating on prototyping the "ultimate activist tool". MobileActive is a dedicated blog that tracks such technology in international development and advocates for the use of mobile technology in crisis situations and disaster relief. (This post is a collaboration between divabat and infini.)

VF: How the Web Was Won

spiderwire — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:02:34 -0800

Vanity Fair has a typically excellent article out -- "How the Web Was Won," an oral history of the Web. Even if you're familiar with ARPANet, Metcalfe's Law, Pearl Harbor Day, the VC rush, whatever -- the story told by the often-animated people at the center of the whirlwind is an enlightening and entertaining experience. And for those of you don't know the history of the Internet, learn it! This is part of your heritage now. I just like this quote because it sums up my experience with all hackers-as-CEOs:

Jeff Bezos: When we started out, we were packing on our hands and knees on these cement floors. One of the software engineers that I was packing next to was saying, You know, this is really killing my knees and my back. And I said to this person, I just had a great idea. We should get kneepads. And he looked at me like I was from Mars. And he said, Jeff, we should get packing tables. We got packing tables the next day, and it doubled our productivity.

Where do we go from here? Why is the path unclear?

WCityMike — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:54:27 -0800

The antidote to LOLbushsuxx0rs. Over the course of the past week, Slate ran a ten (10!)-piece series, "Fixin' It", in which various writers postulated how the course of various aspects of the United States' military, culture, and policies could be redirected for the better. Although the articles are not entirely devoid of Bush criticism, there's mostly a fairly rare focus on the positive actions to be taken from here onward by the next President (whether it be McCain or Obama or Clinton).

No More Phoning It In at the Times

digaman — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:34:02 -0800

[archaic tech filter] Foreign correspondents and reporters in the field at the New York Times say goodbye to the paper of record's recording room.

Too long since the last flying car post.

StrikeTheViol — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:23:26 -0800

A newer, slightly more plausible flying car project. Some people take it more seriously than the king of vaporware skycars, whose designers are now working on a vaporware landspeeder(PDF). If you want something more available, keep your car and check out the Cessna SkyCatcher, no assembly required.

If you miss the old days of rocketboom...

Dave Faris — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 19:18:35 -0800

Morgan Webb (G4tv, Maxim hottie) now offers a 5-minute, tech-oriented news video blog called WebbAlert every weekday.

Stickam is for Porn!

brownpau — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:18:35 -0800

onoes! teenz on teh pr0n webs! It's been a year since I posted about Stickam, and in that time, one would be naïve to think that a community of unmoderated videos broadcast live from the private and semi-anonymous bedrooms of the world would not result in epic lulz (nsfw). To no one's surprise, disgruntled Stickam ex-VP Alex Becker says Stickam shares office space, staff, and equipment with live pornographic video providers -- this via NYT tech writer Brad Stone. Cue the "think of the CHILDRUNZ!" moral panic. But popular websites being related to or backed up by prurient interest are nothing new: Wikipeda predecessor Bomis was once accused of having "softore porn" in its "Babes" section, and of course everyone knows porn drives technology. What do you think the internet is for? But if you use Stickam and this bothers you, the burgeoning field of live embeddable Flash-based webcam video streaming is rife with alternatives: uStream.tv, Justin.tv, BlogTV, Mogulus, and Operator11, just to name some -- but there'll be naked girls on those too. I guarantee it.

Fake Steve Jobs Outed as Forbes Senior Editor

heeeraldo — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 16:21:39 -0800

[newsfilter] Fake Steve Jobs, infamous anonymous blogger writing in the unrestrained voice of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, has had his real identity uncovered by the New York Times. Fake Steve is best known for his creative mockery of other high tech figureheads, including Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson. The race to discover his identity had run for nearly as long as he had been writing, and suspects included Leahnder Kahney and Andy Ihnatko, both well-known Mac columnists. Daniel Lyons, senior editor with Forbes Magazine has been writing in the satirical voice for just over a year, and has announced that Fake Steve will keep writing, sponsored by his current editors at Forbes.

Robots: Where Are They Now?

StrikeTheViol — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:44:53 -0800

Bots've come a long way, baby. So everybody knows about Honda's flashy ASIMO, and the sadly canceled QRIO, but now Wakamaru, Mitsubishi's entry into the field, seems to have been first among semi-autonomous humanoid robots to find a job. I wish it luck, but it might need to grow up a little. Maybe it can learn from Domo, son of Cog, robot of yore.

iPhone Disassembled!

Derek — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:28:07 -0800

Destroying a perfectly good cellphone. The inner workings and guts of the biggest new toy this year. Is it more reliable then an iPod? How many screws does it have? Is it powered by nerds wishes and dreams? The answers to these questions are maybe, 16, and you bet your sweet ass.

Space Diving

daHIFI — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:27:16 -0800

Why yes, I WOULD like to ride a rocket into space, then jump out of it and free-float to an Earth re-entry. Columbia widower Jonathan Clark and X Prize launcher Rick Tumlinson want to redefine re-entry. Whether for fun or for survival, the two want to make it possible for you or me to survive the 150 mile, 18,000 MPH, 8.2G, 3,000°F fall back to Earth in the worlds first orbital life vest. [via]

V-TECH RAMPAGE

mattoxic — Tue, 15 May 2007 22:20:39 -0800

Is it 2000 bucks worth of offensive? A Sydney youth who has created an uproar with an online game based on the Virginia Tech massacre, says he will remove the game if he receives $US2000 in "donations". More via Melbourne Age

.

phaedon — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:38:56 -0800

NewsFilter: At least 20 are dead in multiple shootings at Virginia Tech. Just last week, Virginia Tech closed part of its campus as it was the target of multiple bomb threats.

Avatars for the masses

Dave Faris — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:11:52 -0800

Gizmoz : for those of you who want your own video blog but don't want to mess with the intricacies of a webcam.

Quantum ain't just for leaping

revmitcz — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:01:14 -0800

So.. who's ready for Quantum Computing?

British Colombia-based D-Wave says they've got one and they're going to demo that sucker in Mountain View, CA on Feb 13th and then at the Telus World of Science in Vancouver, Canada on February 15th.

Quoting from TechWorld :

"Multiple quantum states exist at the same time, so every quantum bit or "qubit" in such a machine is simultaneously 0 and 1. D-Wave's prototype has only 16 qubits, but systems with hundreds of qubits would be able to process more inputs than there are atoms in the universe."

Naturally, the tech-savvy blogosphere is skeptical. But what do you think? (previously, previously)