The One Machine Epic
April 7, 2007
Few thoughts while and after watching it.
- About the new Google.zon algorithm that can edit information sources into new stories for every user (from 5:23 to 5:40):
The One Machine does not need to be conscious and free will to actually influence the behavior and thinking of the people connected (feeding on and/or feeding) to it.
Note that the canonical fictional fears about the machines taking control of us, envision their self consciousness and determination.
I call it The One Machine, assuming it will be the same things Kevin Kelly reasons about in this talk (which was at Google, btw) starting around 35:27 into the video. - When something along these lines will eventually emerge, Google.zon (or whatever it shall be) itself will be part of it: partly making it and partly being driven by it. In other words, there can be no puppeteer for this thing.
Anyhow, such a development will build on our choices; choices we are making already, as the video suggests up to around the Microsoft Newsbot release, in the early fictional 2004.
Technorati Tags: Google Society future World knowledge The One Machine
Excerpts from an interview with Micheal Wesch
February 19, 2007
Thanks to Robert Scoble for pointing us to an interview John Battelle did with Micheal Wesch.
I want to take note of some parts of that interview; italics are mine.
So if there is a global village, it is not a very equitable one, and if there is a tragedy of our times, it may be that we are all interconnected but we fail to see it and take care of our relationships with others. For me, the ultimate promise of digital technology is that it might enable us to truly see one another once again and all the ways we are interconnected. It might help us create a truly global view that can spark the kind of empathy we need to create a better world for all of humankind. I’m not being overly utopian and naively saying that the Web will make this happen. In fact, if we don’t understand our digital technology and its effects, it can actually make humans and human needs even more invisible than ever before. But the technology also creates a remarkable opportunity for us to make a profound difference in the world.
I did not know it would reach so many people, but I had hoped that for those it did reach it would spark some reflection on the power of the technology they were using. Because without proper understanding and reflection, “the machine” is using us – all of us – even those that don’t have access to the machine at all.
I like to learn these technologies on my own through trial and error, because sometimes the errors turn out to be new uses for the tool that I might not have discovered through formal training.
Students are already frequently visiting Facebook, so we can bring our class discussions to them in a place where they have already invested significant effort in building up their identity, rather than asking them to login to Blackboard or some other course management system where they feel “faceless” and out of place.
photo by Feltbug
Connect iPod video to a TV using a normal A/V cable
December 21, 2006
I think this little precious information should be well known already. But I didn’t until now, so I am reposting this (a good use of the echo chamber).
O’Reilly Network — Getting the Video out of Your New iPod–for Cheap!:
Here’s where it gets a little tricky. In order to make your TV play back the iPod signal, you’ve got to redirect the outputs. You can’t just plug the yellow RCA plug into the yellow RCA jack and the red into the red or the white into the white. No. Those geniuses at Apple send the video signal over the red RCA output. (Normally it arrives on yellow.) The sound comes through the white and yellow plugs.
Technorati Tags: iPod video cable connection
If TV. will not go to the mountain, the mountain must come …
October 10, 2006
Techcrunch » Blog Archive » Broadcast Photos To Cable TV:
“Imagine if you could watch your friends’ Flickr pictures or YouTube videos on a dedicated cable television channel.”
There’s no privacy for these shows, but the convenience factor for sharing these with people who want to view them on television is innovative.
The easiast way of convergence?
Sony Pictures buys online video startup Grouper
August 30, 2006
Techcrunch » Blog Archive » Wow - Grouper Sells for $65 million:
Sony Pictures is announcing the acquisition of online video startup Grouper.
The acquisition price, confirmed by Grouper, was $65 million in cash.
Sausalito, California based Grouper has built three key technologies: an online video sharing site, a desktop video editor and most importantly a closed (non-bittorent) P2P network for distributing media.
Sony says they will use Grouper’s technology to share lower quality Sony videos online, distribute DVD quality video by P2P and allow users to create mashups of select Sony media properties.
Technorati Tags: Sony Pictures Grouper Sony
Not an easy task to properly frame and shoot a pic (of yourself) everyday.
I’d like to see more tools to automate this sort of image blogging.
A still version of a similar regular shooting effort is here.
[both via information aesthetics]
Technorati Tags: Image Blogging face timemachine
Motionbox - Deep tagging of video files.
April 5, 2006
via TechCrunch » Motionbox - Best Online Video Sharing So Far:
Like YouTube and other services, Motionbox allows tagging of video files. But they also allow deep tagging of parts of video files. Open a file (see screenshot below) select a portion of the video, and tag it. Viewers later will be able to skip right to that clip of the video by clicking on the tag. Longer videos can now easily be broken down into linkable pieces. This is a huge leap forward over competiting services.
