Rumors of a Facebook phone have rattled around the tech world for quite a while. Today Facebook announced not a a phone, but software that can convert many Android phones into Facebook machines. Facebook is available in app form on most smart phones. But the new Facebook Home software will replace the Android home screen with a Facebook-centered home, making it possible for social networkers to keep Facebook at the center of their phone experiences. Will Android phone users click Like?
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/04/facebook-android-home-phone/?cid=6882274
A few short decades ago the Surui tribe lived a stone-age lifestyle in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. Encroachment of modern civilization into their forest threatened their home—and their very existence. But today the tribe is using digital technology to help preserve the rainforest, the people that live there, and the health of our shared planet. This unlikely story is described in this NPR piece and the accompanying YouTube video.
npr.org/2013/03/28/175580980/from-the-stone-age-to-the-digital-age-in-one-big-leap
The smart phone in your pocket is a computer that’s much more powerful and easy to use than the mainframes of yesterday. But if this research project pans out, that phone may eventually be a replaced by a small patch on the back of your hand.
fastcodesign.com/1672217/stamp-on-circuits-could-put-your-phone-on-your-finger
Crowdfunding—funding a project by asking many people for small contributions—has exploded in popularity because of Internet tools and social networks. Crowdfunding is being used to fund high-tech ventures, microbusinesses, charities, and artistic expressions. In this entertaining, moving TED talk, musician Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls talks about a dimension of crowdfunding that’s rarely discussed: the emotional connections that happen when we ask friends, fans, or strangers for what we need. She argues that Internet tools aren’t as important as our attitude about asking.
ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html
When you post something on Facebook, stream a movie from Netflix, or share data with Dropbox, you’re using “the cloud.” Apple’s iCloud makes it possible for 250 million people to store their music, appointments, and documents “out there” and effortlessly access them via iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other digital devices. But what, and where, is the cloud, and how does it work? This slightly technical Wired article examines the futuristic technology inside the cloud—technology that’s likely to find its way into future PCs, tablets, and phones.
wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/03/flash-fusion-io-apple-facebook/all
We’ve heard about how 3D printers can be used to manufacture toys, small machine parts, and even some prosthetic devices for human bodies. But as applications emerge, so do some difficult questions.
- According to this Wired story, a printed car might soon share the road with you. But for legal reasons, it might technically be a motorcycle.
- This NPR story explores some of the intellectual property questions raised by 3-D printers.
- It’s one thing to print a figurine of a copyrighted comic book character; printing a lethal weapon is something else altogether.
This NPR story explains how 3-D printers muddy the waters in the debate over gun safety.
NPR’s Radiolab is radio at its best—entertaining, informative, provocative. This episode will change the way you think about time and speed. One segment reveals the surprising truth about the relative speeds of the human nervous system and the Internet, and the a critical role of speed in today’s computer-controlled financial marketplace.
radiolab.org/2013/feb/05
If you don’t understand how the stock market works, you’re not alone. The market has developed a digital mind of its own, and in many ways it’s beyond human comprehension. The blog that accompanies that story includes some dazzling animated visualizations.
In his state of the union message President Obama explained that he was issuing executive orders to deal with cyber threats to government and business. He also encouraged congress to enact legislation. But as this NPR story explains, the problem may require a more aggressive approach that’s complicated by the fact that our information infrastructure is mostly owned by private businesses.
npr.org/2013/02/13/171843046/victims-of-cyberattacks-now-going-on-offense-against-intruders
Computer crime can be costly, and it’s not going away anytime soon. This Huffington Post article describes the Gozi virus, its creators, and its impact on banks and their customers.
huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/gozi-virus-fbi_n_2535282.html
Categories
Hashtag 101
When the American Dialect Society named “hashtag” the word of the year, they chose a word that means nothing to millions of people who don’t tweet. If you’re one of those people, this NPR story will help you to understand why so many words these days are preceded by #.
npr.org/2013/01/08/168883343/the-art-and-strategy-of-the-hashtag