Category: Technology

More good stuff on the open frontiers – 12-30-13

The change taking place around us is thrilling and confusing. The best way I have to put this in some sort of order for myself is to compare with the open frontier of the US west after our Civil War – The education, energy, space, and publishing worlds are each a new frontier and those frontiers are wide open.

A few articles to give some form to that open frontier:

Cyborg telemarketing

Three articles on the increasing use of computers making the pitch on cold call telemarketing:

Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 12-30-13”

More good stuff on the open frontiers – 12-20-13

It is so exciting to look at the change taking place around us. There’s no better time to be alive and no better time to be engaged in living a full life. Here are a few articles that caught my eye to show the wide open new frontiers. A new space race? Amazon might get avian resistance to their new aerial delivery systems. China puts a rover on the moon.

Space

12-8 – Bloomberg Businessweek – Let the Space Price War Begin – Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 12-20-13”

More good stuff on the open frontiers in space, education, and technology – 12-7-13

Today, twelve articles on education, space, and technology (including Amazon thinking about how to use drones to deliver packages).

Education

12-3 – Via Meadia – Private Sector Warming to MOOCs – Mr. Mead points out that massive open on-line courses Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers in space, education, and technology – 12-7-13”

More good stuff on the open frontiers – 11-9-13

I’ve used the analogy of a newly opened frontier in the areas of :

  • education,
  • space,
  • energy, and
  • publishing.

This post starts a new “good stuff” series.  Don’t have time to write a full post commenting on all the cool articles I see, so sometimes I’ll just link to articles and give a brief comment.

Here are some articles talking about the open frontier.

Education

Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 11-9-13”

A new, built-from-the-ground-up news organization funded by founder of E-Bay

News broke this week that the founder of E-Bay is starting a news organization with major involvement by the reporter who broke so many stories about the NSA spying fiasco.

It will be a brand new, digital-only, full-scope media outlet. Plans are it will cover news, sports, and business in addition to hard-hitting investigative journalism.

Will be funded with an initial $250 million dollar investment.

Pierre Omidyar, the founder of E-Bay, was one of the people shopped as a possible buyer for The Washington Post earlier this year. Jeff Bezos bought the Post for reported $250 million.

Another frontier is open.

Mr. Omidyar decided to put the money he would have otherwise used to buy the Post into something completely new.

Continue reading “A new, built-from-the-ground-up news organization funded by founder of E-Bay”

2 private companies have proven ability to lift supplies to space station

The Cyngus resupply capsule reached the international space station and successfully docked on Sunday (9-29-13). The capsule carried 1,300 pounds of supplies.  In a month it will be loaded with trash and unneeded equipment and burned up in reentry.

That means both Orbital Sciences Corp and SpaceX have the capability to launch privately developed supply ships on top of privately developed rockets to safely deliver supplies into space.

Continue reading “2 private companies have proven ability to lift supplies to space station”

Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte – ethics version

(Cross-post from my other blog, Attestation Update.)

That’s the internet era version of the old line:

Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.

Here is today’s illustration of the concept:  Francine McKenna was invited to debate the question “Does ethics training change behavior?” She was going to argue the ‘no’ position.

The Ethics and Compliance Officer Association Annual Conference disinvited her after protests by other speakers and some sponsors, according to her post, Canceled: Why I Won’t Be Speaking At Ethics And Compliance Officers Association Annual Conference.

Continue reading “Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte – ethics version”

More good stuff on surveillance – 9-17-13

The steady drip-drip-drip of daily news shows there is more bad news yet to be revealed. Several times a week the boundary of the surveillance scandal grows. This mess will get worse before all the news is out.

Here is my fourth list of good stuff that I’d like talk about but only have time to recommend with a quick comment.

Start with something a bit lighter. Be forewarned the author sometimes uses naughty words…ah, make that normally uses naughty words:

Continue reading “More good stuff on surveillance – 9-17-13”

A: 67 nationwide plus 350 at Altamont. Q: How many eagles sliced and diced in five years?

At least 67 golden and bald eagles have been killed in the last five years by wind farms. That is according to a report published in the Journal of Raptor Research discussed by the AP at “Alarming’ number of eagles killed by wind farms, new study finds.

But that’s just for starters.

That death count is small potatoes because it does not include the casualty count from the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area.

Continue reading “A: 67 nationwide plus 350 at Altamont. Q: How many eagles sliced and diced in five years?”

“How Many Servants Do You Have?”

That is the question posted by Joy Pullman in her post of that title at Values & Capitalism.

She explains:

In “The Wealth of Nations,” Smith points out that the number of people under your command is a measure of power and wealth. Continue reading ““How Many Servants Do You Have?””

More good stuff on surveillance – 8-29-13

Here is my third list of good stuff that I’d like talk about but only have time to recommend with a quick comment.

Washington Post – Here’s how phone metadata can reveal  your affairs, abortions, and other secrets – the phone number you called, time of day, and duration can give away information you may not want to give away.

Continue reading “More good stuff on surveillance – 8-29-13”

The printed book industry looks like the dying honeysuckles in the park. And I’m okay with that. Not the plants dying, but the industry.

Daily I walk past a large group of honeysuckle plants that used to be about 30 feet long and about 12 feet wide. The aroma is wonderful while they are in bloom.

Over the last couple of months, something has happened to the plant bed. There are three big areas where there is now only dirt. The number of honeysuckle plants is about half what it used to be.

The ones left are pretty, growing, and fragrant.

However, that bed of plants is dying.

What is happening to those fragrant plants is happening to the book industry.

Continue reading “The printed book industry looks like the dying honeysuckles in the park. And I’m okay with that. Not the plants dying, but the industry.”

More good stuff on surveillance – 8-15-13

There are a lot of articles discussing the surveillance world we now live in. I would like to comment on many of them in a full post. Alas, time does not permit.

Here is my second list of good stuff that I’d like talk about but only have time to recommend with a quick comment.

Here’s two new phrases for you:

  • Localized cloud
  • “Patriot-Act proof” – a new promo for cloud storage sites that aren’t in the U.S.

Continue reading “More good stuff on surveillance – 8-15-13”

The next industry to collapse – low-end digital cameras

How’s this for disruption – a 42% drop in the volume of point-and-shoot cameras shipped in the first five months of 2013.

Olympus expects their volume of low-end cameras to drop 50% this year compared to last.

Continue reading “The next industry to collapse – low-end digital cameras”

More industries transformed by tech revolution – truck driving, legal field

How about truck driving as a threatened field?

The Wall Street Journal article provides a question you may hear soon: Daddy, What Was a Truck Driver?

Truck driving

Continue reading “More industries transformed by tech revolution – truck driving, legal field”