Orbiting the Google — A Gravitational Pull Affecting Our Lives and Thinking
Google exerts a strong pull in the digital realm. Is it strong enough to affect the boundaries of our thinking?
Cultural Upheaval: It’s Still Print vs. Online As Major Magazines Go Digital
Magazines spend millions promoting print advertising but leave Web editorial underfunded. Is this the right move in the month of the iPad?
Shirky at NFAIS: How Abundance Breaks Everything
“Abundance breaks more things than scarcity does. Society knows how to react to scarcity.” Clay Shirky speaks at the opening session of NFAIS.
Books As Software — O’Reilly Makes It Happen
O’Reilly launches the “live book,” a way to extend the useful life of a book by turning hardware into software.
Facebook Patents the News Feed — The “One-Click” Button of Social Media Now Has An Owner
In a moment as important to social networking as Amazon’s one-click patent was for e-commerce, Facebook gets a patent on the news feed. But many questions remain, especially about prior art and what is a “news feed.”
The Video College Application: Tufts Embraces the YouTube Generation
A large university embraces video applications, and more than 1,000 students submit, mostly via YouTube. Here are some clever videos spotlighting some of today’s college applicants.
The Internet’s Extended Cultural Memory — Is It Sapping Our Creativity?
One of the great benefits of the Internet is how it has extended our cultural memory. But has this also stolen our freedom of thought, our ability to create original works of art?
“You Are Not a Gadget” — Why Open Culture and Technocentric Philosophies Are Ruining Our Lives
Jason Lanier’s manifesto about the open culture exposes its lack of ingenuity, its commercial depredations, its amoral world view, and its elitist predilections. It’s worth reading in full.
The Scholarly Kitchen Turns Two!
The Scholarly Kitchen turns two! Thanks for reading and commenting. We have some surprises coming later this year.
E-books Get a Leg Up from CrossRef
CrossRef moves into the reference works area for e-books, with a linking approach and pricing that might just work.
Lessons from a Neighboring Industry — Demand Media’s Disruptive Impact on Journalism
Demand Media has created a journalism and custom content platform that disrupting neighboring publishing models. Can we learn something from their approach?
A Technology Reality Check — The Fable of the Facebook Login
While we continue to explore new and ever-more complex online technologies, the Internet provides a stunning example that for many, the web browser is more than they can handle.
Google Buys Aardvark for $50 Million
Google makes a definitive move in social, acquiring Aardvark for $50M.
Google Buzz: Will Social + Email = Happiness?
Google Buzz has dragged Gmail into the social sphere. Will it be a match made in heaven? Or does it remind users of someplace farther south?
Distribution Doesn’t Matter? Content Vessels Are Irrelevant? Device Makers and Broadband Providers Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank
Information wants to be free? Then why are expenditures for information skyrocketing? Maybe the pendulum has swung back to “information wants to be expensive.”