Patents were originally designed to encourage creativity, but in the digital world they may be having the opposite effect. This engaging episode of public radio’s This American Life takes us inside the trenches of the intellectual property wars.
Author: Ben Beekman
People use eBay and other auction sites for C2C transactions involving material goods. TaskRabbit is a C2C clearinghouse for services. Need somebody to run an errand or put together your new desk? Ask TaskRabbit.
The Internet is a powerful tools for promoting democracy and freedom worldwide. But many governments severely restrict many Internet activities to maintain security and stability. In this powerful TED talk, Rebecca MacKinnon explores the question, “How do we make sure that the Internet evolves in a citizen-centered manner?”
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In this TED talk, Mikko Hypponen tells us about–and shows us–a variety of malware species, from the earliest PC viruses to today’s high-tech organized crime menace.
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Eric Whitacre’s virtual choir combines social networks and multimedia to create a unique and beautiful new work of collaborative art.
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Few people doubt that social media are changing our world, but what does that really mean? This animated video presents a rapid-fire sampler of facts and figures that drive home the point: It’s happening, and it’s happening fast.
We all know about the risks of credit card theft. But few of us know how it really works. This revealing, chilling report from NPR’s Planet Money takes you to an online marketplace for stolen numbers. It may change forever the way you see those plastic cards in your wallet. (A 4-minute NPR story includes excerpts from the longer podcast.)
Radio story • Podcast
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About Digital Planet
Digital Planet is about your future, starting today. The posts on these pages expand the horizons of Digital Planet with links to articles, videos, illustrations, quotations, discussions, and other interactive resources. Some of these posts cover events and inventions that surfaced after the book was printed; others expand on subjects or ideas presented in the book. Each post is cross-referenced to relevant chapters in Digital Planet, the book. If you have suggestions for future posts, please email your ideas to us.
—George and Ben Beekman
Categories
-Multimedia 15.0 Alan Turing, Military Intelligence, and Intelligent Machines 15.1 Thinking About Thinking Machines 15.2 Natural-Language Communication 15.5 Question-Answering Machines 15.6 The Robot Revolution 4.4 The User Interface: The Human-Machine Connection 4.7 Inventing the Future: Tomorrow's User Interfaces I 5.4 Beyond the Printed Page 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas
Conversations with Robots
Be careful–you may be falling in love with a software robot. This episode of Radiolab—NPR’s clever and entertaining broadcast/podcast—explores many ways people talk to machines, including those alluring bots that populate online dating sites. Eliza, Furbie, Clever Bot, Bina—they’re all talking to us, and we’re listening. Radiolab puts it all in perspective in this fascinating program.
In June, 2011, Acer and Samsung will release Web-only laptop computers with interfaces based on Google’s Chrome browser. Unlike other laptops, these inexpensive machines are designed to work only as Web-access devices.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/05/google-debuts-chromebook-the-web-only-laptop
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/05/google-debuts-chromebook-the-web-only-laptop