Will Texting and Twitters Kill Email?

There are many signs that email is threatened as the primary mode of communication between individuals. From record levels of spam (96.4% of all email is spam, some claim) to its incompatibility with cell phones, email is threatened with being […]

Racetrack Memory: The Future of Storage?

Image via Wikipedia In the April 11th issue of Science, an article detailing the development of “racetrack memory” in computing devices [paid content] introduces the intriguing possibility that a new paradigm of physical memory could create tiny devices capable of […]

Zemanta – Augmented Authorship Arrives!

In the book, “The Design of Future Things,” Donald Norman observes that automation is a dangerous goal because pursuing it usually passes the point of diminishing returns. In contrast, augmentation of human effort (e.g., bicycling as augmented walking, writing/drawing/painting/composing as […]

Why I Like the Kindle

Source: WikipediaFor me, the Amazon Kindle has turned out to be the first useful eBook. I say this having used mine for a few months now. Yes, it has some drawbacks in its current packaging, mainly large navigational paddles that […]

Does Turnitin Decision Bode Well for Google?

A federal judge’s decision this month (reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education) cleared plagiarism-detection tool Turnitin of charges that it violates student copyrights, even though it stores digital copies of their papers. An appeal will likely be filed. The […]

Web 2.0 Critiqued in “First Monday” Issue

The March 2008 issue of the online journal First Monday is entitled, “Critical Perspectives on Web 2.0.” It’s worth a look. Some pieces are especially provocative, including “Loser Generated Content: From Participation to Exploitation,” “Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance,” […]

Google’s New Search Trick

The New York Times reports that Google has unveiled a new search trick, allowing users on Google to search within a specific site and generate results without visiting that site. Google sells ads against this additional captive traffic, sometimes for […]

Target’s Experimental Games Experiment

It’s the weekend, so let’s have some fun. Games are educational, and probably always have been. For instance, chess teaches a lot. Now, one of the nation’s largest retailers is mixing experimental games into apparel marketing. According to Boing-Bong.net, Target […]

Charlie Rose – A Tech Die-Hard (Almost!)

According to TechCrunch, Charlie Rose, the unflappable interviewer, apparently chose a face-plant over risking damage to his newly purchased MacBook Air. Walking down a street in New York City and tripping, he ended up looking like this, and his computer […]