Technology

Where my head is at these days

mir — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:09:00 -0400

Yeah.. this morning this afternoon very slow, not sure if it's that the red army will soon be marching over the horizon or because yesterday the brain doctor made me like really kick my own ass. (I am still kicking it in slow motion over here). What am I wasting time with then since clearly I am having trouble with focus?

new guilty pleasure: killing Facebook ads

mir — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:06:04 -0400

Although I realize that by interacting with advertising is *still* providing valuable marketing data, I love describing an ad that says I can "Win an Eames chair" as pornographic. Those chairs with their suggestive modernist lines offend me, begone Eames chair.

The new Facebook, a difficult transition but not without its rewards.

Shameless Repost: Private parts vs. private places

mir — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:56:52 -0400

Good morning to all you Saturday surfers :). Today I’d like to bring some attention to this troubling article from yesterday’s Globe and Mail; Faceless no more: Social networking comes with a price.

The basic premise is one we are familiar with: ‘Young Canadians share too much information online and they don’t understand the risks involved - or care about their privacy.’ The hook here is that; “During a two month-long investigation, The Globe and Mail tracked more than a dozen Canadians through their open social networking profiles, and used freely available web tools to build detailed profiles of each individual user.” This not just a speculative moral panic, the Globe actually went and stalked some young Canadians, all in the name of privacy? Whatever sells your paper, right?

The real problem however is not the data-mining (although as far as I am concerned that’s pretty creepy), it’s how the gender of the youth providing the data is framed. Let’s call it the “the naive sex kitten” versus “wild party animal” bias.

Snipplr (YAWEWR)

mir — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:12:54 -0400

YANEWR - No, not the way us Hebrews write the unspeakable name of the creator.

YANEWR - Yet Another Webapp Ending In 'R'.

Anyways, nomenclature bitches aside, Snipplr is a code/closet for everyone. I already have a tag in Del.icio.us for keeping up with the cheats I use on a regular basis. Now I can start tossing my junk in with everyone else's. How handy.

Interesting Mefi post on cellphones and development

mir — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:14:39 -0400

If information is power, then access is empowering

The way Mefi posts work is one smartypants takes a whole wack of links about a particular subject and makes a suitable short link essay. The idea in this link essay: That the bottom of the pyramid is where the next generation of tech development should be aimed as both a solution for poverty, and to open new markets. The rationale for this approach is the fascinating proliferation of cellular tech in developing countries, places where infrastructure-heavy technologies have not had such a profound effect. I find the argument fascinating, and not surprisingly problematic.

Totally stealing this from Ned

mir — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:59:16 -0400

Ned's girlfriend think he would identify with this flowchart. I think she must know him very well indeed because she is Bang on the money. If I were as big a nerd as Ned I would add a little Javascript thing so that people could personalize the chart to represent their own personal nerd matrix. Oh no wait, if i was Ned, I'd use Rails wouldn't I?

Shameless Repost: iPhone hype

mir — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:57:20 -0400

This being the last Wednesday before the iPhone’s (so insanely over-hyped) release in Canada I thought I’d cover the issues that surround the sleek little 3g hockey puck.

Okay now I have to go do a radio show about feminists and technology, who the fuck decided to become a pundit while she has a thesis to finish and some websites to design. Oh right me, I am a fyucking idjut.

oh F**k me.

mir — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:38:04 -0400

I just fried both my external hard drives, at a time when there is about 5 gb of space left on my compy.

I think I fried both of them because I either; a/ used the wrong power source, or b/ plugged into an ungrounded socket or c/ both.

One hd holds all my archived data of about 5 years so if I were to get audited tomorrow the auditor would have a short job of it. The other holds all the videos I did this year for school.

I tried plugging in the second one, a second time, just to see if I could somehow coax it back to life and not only did I smell the burning, I saw a little plume of smoke curling up from it's silver casing.

Anyone know how to rescue data from hds that have suffered some vague electrical damage?

Repost: Little What?

mir — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:44:21 -0400

Little What?

So this is a new charitable organization called Little Geeks: “Little Geeks is a philanthropic organization and registered Canadian charity that collects, refurbishes and re-distributes donated home computers to children in need.” How about that graphic design - like Toys R’Us on poppers. I feel like Joe Matt must have done the illustrations since no-one has eyeballs. Seriously though, “Little Geeks”? I can’t say I like it.

Though it may seem harsh to take shots at a good-hearted enterprise, I strongly believe that people from the corporate sector, (and take a look at the board of directors if you want to know who’s backing this project) need as much educating about social change as people who barter for used monitors need educating about interest rates and borrowing to save.

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the 100 dollar homework machine

mir — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:33:13 -0400

So, here's a post from Slate The $100 Distraction Device: Why giving poor kids laptops doesn't improve their scholastic performance. Wherein the author suggests, that computers alone do not = scholastic achievement, that often computers waste time and are detrimental, if not to intelligence then to manifestations of intelligence such as doing your homework. IWhat the author is missing is that much of the literature around technology and learning is about how playing on a computer is often a learning process that is just not recognized as such.