Monday, August 09, 2004

Boxes and Arrows: The Information Architecture of Email. Gmail revealed to me my email behavior -- something I hadn't previously given much thought. By making certain things easier (and others more difficult), Gmail showed me how "typical" email applications weren't necessarily designed according to how I used them. [Tomalak's Realm] 6:35:10 PM    comment []

I spent an hour or so on Sunday reading Nicholson Baker's new book, Checkpoint. (It's very short--not much longer, in fact, than the review of it in the New York Times.) It's very funny. And a little bit alarming, because while I do not advocate the violent elimination of George W. Bush, I do, actually, find myself hating him with almost the same murderous intensity as the main character of this book. Here's a sample: "...Yeah, so what you have in downtown Washington is this artificial image of a capital city. You've got the grandeur, you've got the art museums, the Hirshhorn, the Smithsonian, the Natural History Museum, you've got the museum of the African American, you've go the museum of the Native American--gee whiz, kids, this is the United States! And then you've got this unelected fucking drunken OILMAN over there squatting in the house itself. Muttering over his prayer book every morning. Then he gives the order to invade. That's how this began, you know...." [Jan's Nobel Project] 6:35:05 PM    comment []

NPR: Recalling Nixon's Resignation. [Scripting News] 6:33:40 PM    comment []

Open-Media.org. So here's today's architectual design. It's for an effort we're calling Open-Media.org which would enable folks to access the HUGE repositories of public domain and Creative Commons content - that's out there. And to help build our own huge repository of CC content. First we'll start off with upload sites - which will enable folks to start getting their stuff into the 'archives'. Then we'll provide Jukeboxes and Image Albums (much like what's in the gutter of my blog) that have built into them these huge repositories. Bascially we're making sure to make it REAL easy for folks to utilize media in their everyday lives, school and work. The idea is that common APIs and Schemas get established that are then supported by the notion of a 'personal media server'. This code gets baked into all sorts of existing platforms, devices, etc. - while also being given away - in multiple languages. We'll make sure that these 'media servers' are supported by several major, large scale systems - and then sprinkle the pixie dust to the wind - and see where it lands. Anyone interested in getting involved in this effort - should contact me at marc at broadbandmechanics.com. (Continued at Marc's Voice) (Hey guys, sound errily familiar? Maybe it's time for some citizens media consolidation. -kc.) [unmediated] Oh, also this from unmediated    Amazon.com Is Aggregating Blogs. Greg Linden: Amazon.com is testing its own blog aggregator called Blogcast. 6:24:53 PM    comment []

Roxio dumps software division, reborn as Napster. Software company sells old business for $80 million and stakes future on digital music. [CNET News.com] 6:23:29 PM    comment []

Here's another blog by a philosopher, with a fun mix of personal and intellectual: subject to change 12:36:45 PM    comment []

A Digital World With Analog as Its Workhorse. Ironically enough, the digital revolution is driving strong demand for advances in analog electronics. By By BARNABY J. FEDER. [The New York Times > Technology] 7:53:36 AM    comment []

The War on Cyberterror. The nation's defenses need a major rethink. Here are four ways we must protect the electronic frontier. By Bruce Sterling from Wired magazine. 1. Stamp out spam. . . . . 2. Protect ordinary citizens. . . . . 3. Unplug the syndicate. After decades as a playground for antisocial teens, the Net has become a key enabler of organized crime. Syndicates in the former Soviet Union are fusing fraud and identity theft into a new business model, according to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. . . . . 4. Empower the experts. . . . .  . . . On the Internet, we geeks created a frontier. But it's moving directly from barbarism to decadence without ever encountering civilization. The tide of malice is seeping right into our living rooms, 24/7/365. The longer we avert our eyes, the more dangerous the Net will become. [Wired News] Bruce comes by The Well's Inkwell at the end of the week to discuss his new book, The Zenith Angle. 7:51:01 AM    comment []

Big Business Becoming Big Brother. The ACLU says the government is using private companies to snoop on Americans, bypassing legal safeguards. What's worse, Americans share information with companies freely, not knowing where the data may end up. By Kim Zetter. [Wired News] 7:49:04 AM    comment []