Web Scrapings
Some interesting thoughts from Elizabeth Bear on how the internet has changed the nature of fame and entertainment - clicky, clicky - and the piece on "corrugated media" (great term, that) referred to, also a good read.
Scroogled is Cory Doctorow's excellent short story, from Radar online, about search engines, government surveillance and what happens when Google turns to the dark side.
NASA is working on an MMPOG (or as they term it, a "synthetic immersive environment," which may be the second coolest phrase I've heard all morning.) This is potentially a good thing. I have long been convinced that what we need to do is stop complaining about the "addictive" nature of computer games and especially multiplayer onlines, and start using that power for good. My eight-year-old (the same kid who can't sit still for history and geography) learned his way around Runescape in about fifteen minutes, and can rattle off the complete backstory of every quest he's ever done.
Don't ask me what led to this, but here's a link to http://www.orwell.ru/library/articles/bookshop/english/e_shop">George Orwell's essay Memoirs Of A Bookseller.
Scroogled is Cory Doctorow's excellent short story, from Radar online, about search engines, government surveillance and what happens when Google turns to the dark side.
NASA is working on an MMPOG (or as they term it, a "synthetic immersive environment," which may be the second coolest phrase I've heard all morning.) This is potentially a good thing. I have long been convinced that what we need to do is stop complaining about the "addictive" nature of computer games and especially multiplayer onlines, and start using that power for good. My eight-year-old (the same kid who can't sit still for history and geography) learned his way around Runescape in about fifteen minutes, and can rattle off the complete backstory of every quest he's ever done.
Don't ask me what led to this, but here's a link to http://www.orwell.ru/library/articles/bookshop/english/e_shop">George Orwell's essay Memoirs Of A Bookseller.