futuramb's wider net

This is a really important message to all designers in general...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:57:14 +0100

This is a really important message to all designers in general but maybe to IT-departments in particular because this is one of the major driving force behind the polarizing power shift towards the providers of generic and useful functions and the user = away from the obfuscating technology middle men.

chrbutler:

Tom Johnson applies this design principle to documentation:

But is less always more? I’m not sure. But if Apple’s minimalistic designs are any indicator of trends, minimalism in documentation is something to pay attention to. Here are five ideas for minimizing documentation…

So what is the point with all those books?? It must definitely...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:28:23 +0100

So what is the point with all those books?? It must definitely have some other values than learning!!

infoneernet:

matthendrick:

How to Learn (Almost) Anything

How Twitter is Changing the Face of Media

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:06:43 +0100

How Twitter is Changing the Face of Media:

Interesting and relatively short writing about how the communication landscape change with Twitter:

Shared media: Not yours but our media
Power of the crowd: People pick the news
Multiple streams: No one kind of content rules
Personal: Connections to people, not just content
Interactive: Responding, Not Just Consuming

(via @gleonard)

"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius."

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:14:18 +0100

““Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.””

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (via infoneernet)

Cycling commuter report from NYC

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:20:43 +0100

Cycling commuter report from NYC

British Government: We Want Access to Your Every Phone Call, Email and Web Search

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:35:23 +0100

British Government: We Want Access to Your Every Phone Call, Email and Web Search:

chrbutler:

The British government has decided to go ahead with its plans under what it calls the Intercept Modernisation Programme to force every telecommunication company and Internet service provider to keep a record of all of its customers’ personal communications, showing who they have contacted, when and where, as well as the web sites they have visited, according to the London Telegraph and various other British papers.

The information gathered, the Telegraph says, will be able to be accessed by 653 public bodies, “including police, local councils, the Financial Services Authority, the ambulance service, fire authorities and even prison governors.”

"The illiterate of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn,..."

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:13:38 +0100

“The illiterate of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and re-learn.”

- Alvin Toffler (via chrbutler)

List of Open Innovation & Crowdsourcing Examples - Best practices - Open innovation and crowdsourcing

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:22:08 +0100

List of Open Innovation & Crowdsourcing Examples - Best practices - Open innovation and crowdsourcing:

A really good list of Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing initiatives and examples. Worth a look if you try to understand what this new emergent way of organizing value creation really is!

"This need to reduce spending coupled with technologies that enable effective remote and real time..."

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:54:54 +0100

“This need to reduce spending coupled with technologies that enable effective remote and real time collaboration will produce a giant shift in the way that companies do business. The next 5-10 years will not be characterized by new efficientcys, but by fundamental changes in the business model, during this phase many new companies will emerge sucessful from having wholistically incorporated clear and rapid communication channels, while others will fall behind for failure to do so.”

- Adding Value and Making More Money With Effective Collaboration Tools | Microgeist

Click to download a free Forrester/Adobe research report about the future of collaboration in which you can read in the executive summary:

As collaboration grows in importance for knowledge work, the tools must embrace and refine current work habits, while also enabling a transition to more efficient and effective communication and collaboration. Enterprise IT must go beyond simply providing more collaboration solutions. Forrester’s high-level recommendation is that enterprise IT must find the best way to support workers’ current work habits while better leveraging emerging solutions that fit enterprise ITand knowledge worker needs and expectations.

emergentfutures: Forecasting Financial Crashes: The Ultimate...

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:07:24 +0100

emergentfutures:

Forecasting Financial Crashes: The Ultimate Experiment Begins

If a new technique for predicting crashes really works, a bold new experiment will measure how well.

Paul Higgins: A commendable step. Too much of the commentary and claims around forecasting are based on individuals making a prediction that comes true but no examination of the overall performance. I will be watching this with great interest. My initial reaction from principle is that forecasting of complex events is by definition impossible but my principles would also say that scientific and empirical testing should always be carried out.

Novelties - How an Engineer Turned a Cellphone Into a Microscope - NYTimes.com

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:02:21 +0100

Novelties - How an Engineer Turned a Cellphone Into a Microscope - NYTimes.com:

There have been a number of research projects around diagnostics on mobile phones for a while. But when they are starting to reach the US$10 level it will be really interesting for the global fight against diseases.

The Goods May Be Virtual, but the Profit Is Real - NYTimes.com

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:09:00 +0100

The Goods May Be Virtual, but the Profit Is Real - NYTimes.com:

A business that have existed for quite a number of years seems to be more and more mainstream. Here is an NYT article about virtual goods.

It is interesting to think of virtual things as non-existant and with no real value, but in the article is ending with a interesting testimony which might highlight at least a couple of other values:

Some game fans claim that in some cases, virtual goods can be better than the real thing. Jamie Kwong, a 13-year-old in Altadena, Calif., spends hours a week on a “paper doll” site called Stardoll, buying dresses and handbags. She created Juillet606, with brown eyes and hair to match her own. Unlike the actual paper dolls she used to play with, the tabs do not rip off.

“With Stardoll it all stays on there, my brother can’t get on it, and everything is good,” she said.

Bank of England says financiers are fuelling an economic 'doom loop' - Telegraph

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:54:47 +0100

Bank of England says financiers are fuelling an economic 'doom loop' - Telegraph:

The banking sector must be overhauled as profoundly as in the wake of the Great Depression or financiers will “game the state” over and over again, the head of the Bank of England’s financial stability arm has warned.

This is exactly what will (continue to) happen if the financial system is allowed use the society as their parachute when they fail. The fundamental learning feedback loop will be broken!

How to solve it is a more delicate matter, but nobody will benefit from a financial industry “teenager” who grows up to terrorize and lives on extorting it’s government “parents”.

100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner | College@Home

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:30:12 +0100

100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner | College@Home:

Here are some great tools that you can use to your individual learning style, no matter what that is.

A SF version of the library of the future from the movie The...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:30:00 +0100

A SF version of the library of the future from the movie The Time Machine, which is based on the famous novel by H G Well. The interesting thing is that while the books have disappeared they have kept the personal (and a bit annoying) librarian. Even though he is virtual… This is almost the same vision as Neil Stephenson has in SnowCrash.

Bookless Libraries?

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:19:10 +0100

Bookless Libraries?:

infoneernet:

When does a library cease to be a library?

What started as a debate over whether brick-and-mortar libraries would survive much further into the 21st century turned into an existential discussion on the definition of libraries, as a gathering of technologists here at the 2009 Educause Conference pondered the evolution of one of higher education’s oldest institutions.

“Let’s face it: the library, as a place, is dead,” said Suzanne E. Thorin, dean of libraries at Syracuse University. “Kaput. Finito. And we need to move on to a new concept of what the academic library is.”

Seen at Inside Higher Ed

McAfee says piracy has tripled even in wake of Pirate Bay...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:35:16 +0100

McAfee says piracy has tripled even in wake of Pirate Bay prosecution | VentureBeat

Banker Bonus Rain - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com A bonus system...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:17:50 +0100

Banker Bonus Rain - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com
A bonus system out of hand!

John Gerzema: The post-crisis consumer | Video on TED.com An...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:45:50 +0100

John Gerzema: The post-crisis consumer | Video on TED.com

An optimistic talk about a number of consumer value trends that signals that people are changing in the right direction:

Status shift from having things towards having liquidity
Shift towards ethics and fair play
Durable living - life is a marathon and not a sprint
Communities are becoming more important part of our lives and consumption

Smart Mobs » Blog Archive » Just one degree of separation

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:22:40 +0100

Smart Mobs » Blog Archive » Just one degree of separation:

It is no secret that personalized communication technologies cause increased transparency on many levels.

This blog post in Smart Mobs tells a couple of stories suggesting that this transparency has taken another important step when theorists on both the counter terrorist side and terrorist side starts to communicate person to person over the Internet.

I take this as a clear sign that the dominant hierarchical model is being challenged on a much deeper level than before. Now we just have to wait and see how the hierarchical structures will react to this.