January 30, 2006
PBS African American Lives program
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/
Narrated by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
December 18, 2005
RFID tags tracking you?
December 09, 2005
cell phone disruption? nooo waayyy..?! [sarcasm]
cell phones disrupting family life
December 04, 2005
yet another zealous school...
anybody remember weiser's tabs???
"like petty little dictators, school officials imposed a new ID system on elementary school students. Students were issued ID tags they must wear around their necks - just like in some prisons - and school officials have threatened disciplinary proceedings against any student who fails to do so. The tags include the student's name, picture, school, class year and school ID number. The tags also include an RFID chip that responds to a scanner with a student-specific serial number. "
and a response...
"The problem the school officials ran into didn't have anything to do with technology, but rather their own naiveté when it came to "selling" the project to the community.
I suspect that InCom was just as naive as the Brittan school board because there were so many flawed decisions in how this particular plan was conceived. Two major d'ohs come to mind: the foolish assertion that the system, as implemented, would improve security at the school, and the deployment of RFID sensors to monitor bathroom access."
everyday six-million dollar men and bionic women?
So a few days ago I saw a Saturday night live skit, where they were impersonating Steve Jobs as he was introducing the newest i-pod. He first pulled out the i-pod nano, but then he was like wait! That’s old news! Introducing the new just released i-pod micro! And then he pulled out another one and he was like “but forget that, here’s the new i-pod released 5 seconds from now! The i-pod invisible!” Well, besides the obvious comedy, this skit really made me think about howo true this is. Apple has been releasing new ipods like crazy, and just by counting I can think of 7 different kind of ipods…
So, I started thinking about the social implications of the shrinking ipods. Clearly, it’s more desireable to have the latest, smaller ipod, but what could happen if ipods become so small, you couldn’t tell that it was there? Would it be as cool? What could happen if ipods got so small, they could be implanted in your cochlea? You wouldn’t see hundreds of college students walking around campus with the telltale white headphones. However, this could also cause serious traffic problems…i.e. me on my scooter ringing my bell like a madwoman trying to get the person in front of me to move so I don’t run them over…however, they would be listenining to the cool jams. And what would happen with kids who are being lectured to by their parents, and instead of listening intently and feeling bad for what they have done, they are rocking out to the latest n’sync pop hit..?
The ipod has definitely become a symbol of social status in today’s world. Without an ipod, you’re out of the loop, to a degree. Even apple’s signature white headphones serve as a way to communicate to those who see you that you have an ipod, not an inferior music player. The shuffle and the nano are often worn proudly around the neck, especially in asian countries.
Would in-body devices, or smaller devices (such as earrings that play music) be as popular? The same attribute that would make them desirable, (their inconspicuousness), could also ultimately deter buyers. You can’t make a social statement with something that is unseen. However, for those living in large urban settings, like New York (where there has been a rash of subway ipod thefts), this could be an ideal investment.
I guess this same sentiment could be applied to may of today’s technologies. Smaller cell phones, smaller computers, eventually everything could be implanted in our bodies and we really would be the bionic, million dollar men. Could these improvements to the human body create less of a social hierarchy? Less greed? Or would these advancements simply not be possible, as their being would not promote future sales via user advertising?
Personally, I think that there would not be enough sales of technology like the ipod with out the high visability and recognition of the product. What do you think?
November 25, 2005
intelligent advertising
It seems like the big search engines have found yet another way to titillate your buying urges, and encourage your spending from their sites. Yahoo and google had always catered to your advertising needs, changing the advertisement content displayed based on the words you were searching. Yahoo had also catered to users ‘advertising needs’ by geographical location. But now, yahoo says that they will be using ‘behavioral targeting’ to rope in more consumer link-clicking on their site. That’s right. Psychology has invaded everything, even the search engine. Ha-ha. But it’s not as bad as it sounds. Yahoo won’t be probing your brain through waves sent by your hard drive, or sending subliminal messages. They are only going monitor and track the way that you use yahoo, the links you click, and how long of a time you spend at sites directed by them.
But is this invading your privacy? I realize that yahoo will only be using this information to send advertisements to you, but what could happen if someone with ill intentions accessed this info from yahoo, and used it to steal identity, or monitor/stalk others? Is it just me, or does this yahoo advertising method seem a lot like a virus?? ‘monitoring’ your activity through there site doesn’t seem like something desirable, in fact—it sounds scary. But whatev, as long as I don’t get ads for porn anymore right?
However, the more I thought about this topic, I realized, Yahoo is doing what magazines have been doing for years—but they haven’t needed to monitor their readers, because the magazine itself is geared toward a specific readership. This is also true for the internet, to a degree. Harking back to linked, the density of internet use is far more concentrated in developed, large cities, particularly in the U. S…so advertising can be geared towards a WIDE population, but not to the specificity of magazine ads. The internet would be the equivalent of someone receiving nature magazine, with an ad for hunting guns…it’s just not good enough.
But then there is spam—totally blind to any preferences, hobbies, or purchases. The equivalent of physical junk mail. Would you want spam that catered to your preferences? Personally, I would—this would mean that I might even open it before deleting it.
So anyway, I guess what it all boils down to is that the internet is becoming more intelligent and more aware of it’s users and their needs. I’m sure that advancements like this one will ultimately improve the internet, even if it is through trivial progressions like advertising. Today it will be advertising, tomorrow it will be automatic e-mail [intelligent] filtering, total voice command, etc. etc.
I’m guessing that these advancements will initially only benefit sellers on the internet…
November 20, 2005
infringing on your [digital] rights
So after my previous blog entry I found this article…
The summary of the story is, that the principle of a roman catholic school in new jersey has ordered all students to remove all postings about themselves or about school from their blogs or websites…EVEN if they were posted from home. All of this hullabaloo was allegedly caused by a student who was chatting with someone online who they thought was another teenager, but who in reality was an adult. (Mind you, nothing bad came out of the situation, no meetings, kidnapping, etc)
This brings up an interesting point. Are blogs becoming so popular among young America, that they are interfering with their schooling? Or are people becoming so paranoid about the mystery that is cyberspace, that they feel censorship is the only option?
Personally, I believe it is the latter. We are living in a scary time, where placing on restrictions on freedom loving, red white and blue citizens becomes the ‘best’ way to ‘protect’ others and themselves from their actions and actions from others…while simultaneously infringing on their personal rights.
I understand that this was a private school, but one must draw the line between private lives and work/school lives. Even if it is a private school, the right to free speech should prevail! This is almost like saying that a school has placed restrictions on it’s female students saying that they may not date until they are 17. Is this not the job of their parents? Have parents become so separated from their children that schools are now doing their job?
If the school finds out that students are keeping blogs, they can be suspended.
I don’t get it. Is this a reaction to fear? Are the administrators of this school afraid that their students, presumably oppressed under the firm hand of their school administration, will become a ‘smart mob’, mobilizing themselves via the internet? If this is the case, they are taking the wrong mode of action…if it is blogs today, tomorrow they will have to ban instant messaging, text messaging, telephone conversations and eventual all communication with others outside of the school community. Ok, maybe I’m taking it a little too far. But you can see where I am going with this.
It is inevitable an underground revolution will emerge under this authority…how hard could it be to create an anonymous blog?
I think that blogs are a great way for kids to get their feelings out, or keep in touch with friends. In today’s crazy world, teenagers need an outlet where they can be themselves…somewhere to ‘digitally run’ to. Taking this away could create even more problems…I’d love to see a follow up on this story…