Theoreti.ca – Page 197 – Research notes taken on subjects around multimedia, electronic texts, and computer games.

The new cold-war: Ready.Gov

The Department of the Homeland Security now has a site, Ready.gov to help us ready for biological, chemical and nuclear threats. It is full of wisdom like,

Studies have shown that taking steps to temporary seal off a room using common materials enhances the safety of a room against the impact of a chemical plume. (Ready.gov – FAQ)

Reminds me of the paranoia I grew up with during the cold war. How to prepare for the end of the world. Perhaps that’s the point – a bit of fear goes a long way. Look at the graphics from the ready.com home page. The women looking up to a “ready” man. The Buisness looking confidently at us like the Ready Kids (who are coming soon.)

Ready-to-fear.

So why is the Ad Council advertising Ready.com on the Guardian Unlimited site? That’s where I saw the ad … Is the Department of Homeland Security so insecure they have to advertise in a left-wing UK online news site? Is the Ad Council just randomly buying advertising space? Is someone trying to make fun of Ready.com?

Design: the new business skill

After years of making fun of the arts, it turns out that design skills are the new IQ (Imagination Quotient) for business (and, for that matter, engineering.) From a meeting with Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) folks and from Audrey Carr I have heard about the new Rotman & OCAD collaboration, see The Business of Design.

Griffin iTalk

italk.image.jpg
So I bought a Griffin Technology iTalk – Voice Recorder for iPod. Why you may ask? … Well I want to play with podcasting and it seemed cheaper to get the iTalk for my iPod than to get a separate voice recorder.

Does it work? Well, I’m getting used to it after a bad start. I think I need to get a Lapel Mic and the right set up on my Mac for recording. (Tell me its easier than Engadget describes it!)

Screen Shot of Arabic

From a spam e-mail – this is a screen capture. Rather bizarre effect.

feedmap: a BlogMap for your blog

At feedmap .net (BETA) : Where Blogs Meet Maps I created the following BlogMap,

Continue reading feedmap: a BlogMap for your blog

Wayzgoose 2005: Book Arts in Grimsby

Thanks to a note from Paul Lisson who commented on an earlier post on Letterpress in Hamilton, I went to the 2005 Wayzgoose in the town of Grimsby, Ontario. Delightful event that has been happening for decades. I picked up the 2005 Anthology that has sampling of print signatures of artists and printers. I also met book artists and printers from the area like Will Rueter of Aliquando Press in Dundas. Anyway, I assume it was Rueter.
Continue reading Wayzgoose 2005: Book Arts in Grimsby

Web Pages That Suck

Web Pages That Suck is a blog about mistakes of web design. I found the site looking at a site I rather liked, one art | design for use, which claims its readership went up when it got an honorable mention.
The idea of teasing bad design is a good one. This should be good to use and read for classes.

Infomania: research on the loss of IQ from IT

The BBC News has a story titled, ‘Infomania’ worse than marijuana (April 22, 2005.) A study for Hewlett Packard claims that some are getting addicted to messaging and that this reduced intelligence. The study was led by Dr Glenn Wilson, a psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s College, London.
This was from Geoff T.
Continue reading Infomania: research on the loss of IQ from IT

Business Blogging

Blogs Will Change Your Business is a long and thoughtful article on blogging from a business perspective. I’m not sure I’m convinced that businesses will be able to dominate the blogosphere, but the authors make a case for how businesses can adapt blogs to business uses. (Swamp us with high production blogs and who will bother with the amateurs?)
The article gives examples of businesses and how they have used blogs and discusses how blogging can establish consulting credibility.
The article is by Stephen Baker and Heather Green, and has a May 2, 2005 date line as the cover story for the upcoming BusinessWeek Magazine. This is thanks to Terry Flynn.
Continue reading Business Blogging

More on Moore’s Law and the original magazine

Apparently there has been a search for a mint copy of the original 1965 Electronics magazine in which Moore’s article proposing Moore’s Law appeared. Well, now a copy has been found, see BBC NEWS | Technology | Moore’s Law original issue found. It was under the floorboards of a hoarder. (Why under the floorboards and how was it found? Because his wife complained about the mess!) Double thanks to Judith Altreuter for alerting me to this and then pointing out a typo.