Category: technology
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Image Compression and The Origins Of Life
Human life on Earth is the result of an extremely fortunate environment. This includes our temperate position near a stable star, in a stable area of the galaxy, with neighbouring bodies of the right size and distance to protect us. It is a Rare Earth. As we evolved, this environment continued (and continues) to influence…
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Your Job as an Artist
Andrew Keen, the so-called Anti-Christ of Silicon Valley, tackles his common ground of technology and creativity in a piece from the Telegraph where he hopes to discover Why are Artists so Poor? After a bit of Twittering, Andrew found that his: responses extended to everything from lucid one-worders like âoversupplyâ to philosophical tweets such as…
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Computing and the Climate
In what appears to be a bit of an advertisement for climateprediction.net–a distributed computing project to test the accuracy of various computer models of climate change–The Economist looks at the impact of computing on the environment; specifically carbon dioxide emissions. According to a report published by the Climate Group, a think-tank based in London, computers,…
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Text as UI (On Twitter)
Putting me in mind of Dustin Curtis’ multivariate ‘split’ testing to increase click-through rates to his Twitter profile (previously), Jakob Nielsen discusses his iterative design process for a Twitter message advertising his latest usability conference. The message went from, Announcing LAS VEGAS and BERLIN as the venues for our biggest usability conference of the year http://bit.ly/UsabilityWeek…
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Apple’s Strategy: The Good and Bad
The four major issues with Apple’s current product line and strategy that are “stifling the industry, consumer choice and pricing”, according to Jason Calacanis: Destroying MP3 player innovation through anti-competitive practices. Monopolistic practices in telecommunications. Draconian App Store policies. Wanting to own almost every extension of the iPhone platform. It’s tough to disagree with these…
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Emails Predicting Organisational Collapse
Regardless of content, the email patterns inside organisations may be able to predict approaching crises. This is the conclusion of a study looking at how the communication between Enron employees changed as the company approached its 2001 bankrupcy. [Researchers] expected communication networks to change during moments of crisis. Yet the researchers found that the biggest…
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Technology in the Classroom
Teachers are using technology in the classroom as a crutch, rather than a tool to increase their quality of teaching, proposes JosĂ© A. Bowen, Dean of the Meadows School of the Arts, and this is why he’s removing computers from his classrooms. Resistance was high, both from teachers and students, but research has linked boredom in…
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Developing a Web App on a Shoestring Budget
As the title suggestsâand the tips proveâthis brief guide to getting a web app up-and-running on a small budget requires, well, a budget (as opposed to no budget and doing it all yourself). The steps: Create a clear wireframe model Outsource the development Use an open source content management system Start a design contest Leverage…
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On Passwords (Usability and Security)
Passwords have barely evolved since the early days of computing and are taken for granted in our daily online-lives. It’s time for change, says usability expert Jakob Nielsen, who believes password masking goes against basic usability principles and should be stopped (via Kottke). Providing feedback and visualizing the system’s status have always been among the…