Category: Internet Culture and Technology

Stephenson on Hardware: The Spaceheater

Slashdot | Neal Stephenson Responds With Wit and Humor is a long interview with Neal Stephenson. I love what he has to say about

My thoughts are more in line with those of Jaron Lanier, who points out that while hardware might be getting faster all the time, software is shit (I am paraphrasing his argument). And without software to do something useful with all that hardware, the hardware’s nothing more than a really complicated space heater.

Now, one could construct an argument against Raymond Kurzweil to the effect that hardware may be getting faster, but the software is just getting hairy (as in hair ball). The inevitability that Kurzweil and others see in the improvements in hardware are a false evolution – a bit like thinking that humans will be superseded because cars gets faster.
This link is courtesy of Matt K.

CAIDA: Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis

CAIDA (Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis) has a wealth of information, papers, analysis, and tools on their web site, including mass information visualization tools that have been developed and links to information about the visualization techniques. You can also get cool posters of the Internet. In their “about” page they write that CAIDA is,

a collaborative undertaking among organizations in the commercial, government, and research sectors aimed at promoting greater cooperation in the engineering and maintenance of a robust, scalable global Internet infrastructure. CAIDA provides a neutral framework to support cooperative technical endeavors.

China and cyber dissidents

The Globe and Mail has a story about how Cyber dissidents rattle China’s thought police. The story features the “Stainless Steel Mouse”, a 24-year-old woman Liu Di who was jailed for a year for her online activities. What is scary is how many people China purportedly has monitoring the net. It is also scary how technology companies have worked with the government to develop online surveillance tools. China may prove the Internet is as easy to patrol as the streets. The story is by Rod Mickleburgh, Friday, Oct. 29, 2004, Page A16.

Web advertising begins to pay

A story in the Guardian Unlimited title, Online cashes in at last by Own Gibson (Oct. 18, 2004) reports on new UK data that shows that internet advertising has risen past Cinema to challenge radio.

According to research due to be unveiled today by Microsoft’s internet arm MSN, confidence is higher than ever among sales staff at major sites such as MSN, AOL and Yahoo! and the agencies that buy space on them. After years of trying, and in some cases under-delivering, it looks as if the internet’s accountability, measurability and targeting is finally making an impression on the big brands. In certain sectors, notably cars and finance, online ads are now an integral part of any big campaign, rather than an afterthought.

I wonder what percentage of this is Google ads?

Canada High-Speed

Globetechnology has a story on “The world’s most connected place” by Dave Ebner from Sept. 16, 2004. Canada is the second most connected country in terms of percentage of households with high-speed Internet connections after South Korea. And, massive on-line gaming is one reason Koreans are getting high-speed. (Apparently Korea is also dense and urban, which makes it easier to wire.)
Continue reading Canada High-Speed

h2g2: BBC’s unconventional Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything

The BBC took over, in 2001, the h2g2 server which is the site for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It is a community generated encyclopedia with an attitude. This Douglas Adams inspired reference tool is where I found a page about l33t speak.
Continue reading h2g2: BBC’s unconventional Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything