The 2012 Technology Multiple Choice Test

       

Hey, why not give a quiz to prep for 2012? Makes sense to me. And since a *ton* of technology-related shenanigans have transpired thus far, this seems to be the best way to get (me) up to speed. So here we go…

[1] What is SOPA/PIPA and what’s it got to do with me and my Interwebs?

  • a) A kind of flaky, crumbly dessert one can only order online
  • b) The latest round of US legislation aimed at protecting copyright holders/owners at the expense of users (like us).  
  • c) The new Cirque du Soleil show, where they block your domain name for watching it.
  • d) None of the below.
  • e) A good thing to shelve and/or majorly revamp.

[2] What’s all this talk about Drone use in the US?

  • a) Wait, like the bee? 
  • b) It was only in N. Dakota and over some cattle, get over it.
  • c) Marks the beginning of what could become a very disturbing trend. 
  • d) Well what else can you do with $37 billion?

[3] I remember hearing something about Carrier IQ… Do you?

  • a) Basically if you own a cell phone your carrier can gather and track all sorts of personal data from your smartphone.
  • b) Yes, I do remember hearing something about it in-between Thanksgiving and Xmas meals…
  • c) It’s almost the latest “to do” on Congress’ investigatory checklist.     
  • d) I don’t own a cell phone.

[4] Why does Google want to include “My World” into its searches?

  • a) Because social media is awesomer then just plain searching.
  • b) Because social media is the new SEO. 
  • c) Because we are Google’s best products.
  • d) Because organizing the world’s information just isn’t fulfilling anymore.

[5] Really? Only 5 questions…

  • a) Well, yeah.
  • b) So much to cover, in such little time.
  • c) Looking to start really pushing Cyberspaces and Global Affairs, actually.
  • d) More to come… Obviously. 
  • e) all of the above.

Answers: [1] - b, d, & e, [2]- c, [3] - a, b & c, [4] a-d, [5] e

NEW post on DES: From Old Paris to a New Internet

       

A new post is up over at The Mantle about how the big Internet players, in their quest for web domination, limit how we—the users—use the web. Here’s a taste:

In a now somewhat dated book titled Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the way we Create and Communicate, author Steven Johnson invokes the disorderly nature of Old Paris, with its winding streets and unpredictable neighborhoods, as a metaphor for the Internet. Old Paris was built from the ground up, organically; in piecemeal according to those that lived on and traveled its streets. This works incredibly well with our conception of the Internet and its democratic ideals: It is the people who use it. Norms and values on the Internet were/are created unpredictably, vibrantly, and, at times, chaotically. But then, staying with the metaphor, Paris was rebuilt to heighten its efficiency, to make travel easier. Here, Johnson’s comparison stops. But there is an aspect of this metaphor that is beginning to hold true to our current Internet. Paris wasn’t merely rebuilt to improve travel—it was also rebuilt to bring a greater sense of control to Napoleon III. The streets were remade so that dissent and uprising could be found and squashed more quickly and efficiently. The local knowledge that reigned supreme in the haphazard street layout of the old city was now debunked by a new administrated system of purely functional streets and pathways that allowed for quick orientation and unhindered maneuverability. Gone were the random, casual encounters of Old Paris’ public life, replaced with grand boulevards meant to merely move people from one place to another. This seems more like where the Internet is headed today.

Internet Ad revenue is already at $15 billion for 2011

bitshare:

                                   

In the first half of 2011, Internet Ad Revenue is at $14,941 billion and up 23% from last year. Just think about that for a second. That is a gigantic sum of money poured into online ads. Each year it keeps going up too.

Read More

This has gone up almost a quarter percent each quarter for a few years now… From a security perspective, with people grilling Facebook’s privacy settings and the like, to secure various pockets of the Internet—or even the “whole thing”—would be to slow this ad revenue down. And who’s going to want to do that? Google? Facebook?

Nope.

It’s official: Google wants to own your online identity

It’s official: Google wants to own your online identity

Ever since Google launched its new Google+ social network, we and others have pointed out that the search giant clearly has more in mind than just providing a nice place for people to share photos of their pets. For one thing, Google needs to tap into the “social signals” that people provide through networks like Facebook so it can improve its search results. But there’s a larger motive as well: as chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt admitted in an interview in Edinburgh over the weekend, Google is taking a hard line on the real-name issue because it sees Google+ as an “identity service” or platform on which it can build other products.

» via GigaOM

Our physical quirks, our mistakes, the inflection in our name, our proclivities and our tendencies, they all get rolled into a singular collection of traits that define who we are. And that collection is what people see first and foremost when they receive our personalities. Without that identity, all anyone has to judge a person on is their words via the prism of objective reality. It only cares whether our views on organic chemistry or foreign policy are relevant. It separates the world of ideas from the filthy meatspace we are bound by.
All Hail Anonymity - Llewellyn Hinkes-Jones - Technology - The Atlantic (via infoneer-pulse)

(via infoneer-pulse)

As ever more Americans go online instead of sending paper, the volume of mail has been plummeting. The decline is steeper than even pessimists expected a decade ago.
The US Postal Service has lost $20 billion in the last four years and expects to lose another $8 billion this fiscal year. The recession made everything worse, but the internet is the main culprit. (via theeconomist)

(via theeconomist)

Remember Iceland?

        

Remember when Iceland went bankrupt in 2008? Then there were riots, and then ruling parties resigned, then came the IMF interventions, then… what?

Well Deena Stryker, in her article for The South African Civil Society Information Service, explains why this European island completely fell off the media map: the people took political and constitutional matters into their own hands.

To write the new constitution, the people of Iceland elected twenty-five citizens from among 522 adults not belonging to any political party but recommended by at least thirty citizens. This document was not the work of a handful of politicians, but was written on the internet. The constituent’s meetings are streamed on-line, and citizens can send their comments and suggestions, witnessing the document as it takes shape. The constitution that eventually emerges from this participatory democratic process will be submitted to parliament for approval after the next elections.

Some readers will remember that Iceland’s ninth century agrarian collapse was featured in Jared Diamond’s book by the same name. Today, that country is recovering from its financial collapse in ways just the opposite of those generally considered unavoidable, as confirmed by the new head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde to Fareed Zakaria. The people of Greece have been told that the privatization of their public sector is the only solution.  And those of Italy, Spain and Portugal are facing the same threat.

They should look to Iceland. Refusing to bow to foreign interests, that small country stated loud and clear that the people are sovereign.     

That’s why it is not in the news anymore.

'Cyberloafing' At Work Boosts Productivity, Researchers Find

infoneer-pulse:

Bosses may have it all wrong when they assume that funny cat videos and FAIL slideshows are a drain on the workplace. Some new research finds that a moderate amount of mindless web surfing actually makes workers more productive at their jobs.

And the more mindless the surfing, the better.

“Employees who browse the web more end up being more engaged at work, so why fight that if it’s in moderation?” says Don J.Q. Chen, a researcher at the National University of Singapore and a co-author of the new report, presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management.

» via The Huffington Post

Encouraging civility while preserving avenues of dissent is a tough balancing act, and the core debate over whether one should have a right to anonymity in public spaces is long overdue. However, it comes with a danger — namely, that legitimate arguments for disclosure will be expanded to justify illegitimate spying on private interactions.
What we lose when we lose anonymity - David Sirota - Salon.com (via infoneer-pulse)

(via infoneer-pulse)