Digital Literacy
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I think it’s pretty clear that the future of books is digital. I’m sure we’ll always have deckle-edge hardcovers and mass market paperbacks, but I imagine the physical version of books will soon assume a cultural place analogous to that of FM radio. Although the radio is always there (and isn’t that nice?), I really only use it when I’m stuck in a rental car and forgot my auxilliary input cord. The rest of the time I’m relying on shuffle and podcasts. I love books deeply.
The Future Of Reading | Wired Science | Wired.com
Why You Should Write When Life Sucks | Men with Pens
When Ali Hale sends me a post, I know it’s going to be good. And this one – on what to do about writing when life sucks – hits the target. Feel free to let us know in the comment section what you’ve done with those “life sucks” moments and how you can use them to create emotional content that packs a punch. Perhaps you’ve lost some of your usual energy and zest. Maybe you got too busy.
Stephen Colbert testified in Congress on Friday about an immigration bill that he said — in all truthiness — he had not read, “like most members of Congress.” And when the comedian was challenged by one disgruntled lawmaker about his expertise, which was based on a single day spent hamming it up in a bean field for his show on Comedy Central, Mr. Colbert, keeping completely in character, said that was enough time to make him an expert on anything. Mr.
Stephen Colbert: The Whole Truthiness and Nothing But - NYTimes.com
ScienceDaily (June 29, 2010) — Motivation doesn't have to be conscious; your brain can decide how much it wants something without input from your conscious mind. Now a new study shows that both halves of your brain don't even have to agree. Motivation can happen in one side of the brain at a time. Psychologists used to think that motivation was a conscious process. You know you want something, so you try to get it.
Is your left hand more motivated than your right hand?
“Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould,” the fascinating new documentary by the Canadian filmmakers Peter Raymont and Michèle Hozer, has won praise for providing insights into Gould’s eccentric character. It shows the sad progression of a brilliant, garrulous musician with a fiercely original artistic vision as he becomes increasingly obsessive and isolated. Yet it also provides valuable insights into the inner workings of Gould’s distinctive technique and unorthodox interpretive approach. In his chosen repertory, especially Bach, Gould played with uncanny clarity and brought seemingly impossible independence to individual voices.
‘Genius Within’ and Glenn Gould’s Technique - NYTimes.com
Op-Ed at 40 - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com
On Sept. 21, 1970, readers who turned to the last inside page of The Times's main section found something new. The obituaries that normally appeared in that space had been moved, replaced by something called Op-Ed. The vision of John Oakes, the editorial page editor, and Harrison Salisbury, the eminent foreign correspondent, Op-Ed was meant to open the paper to outside voices.
Very useful HTML5 App with a size of less than 10 Kilobytes | INSIC DESIGNS
Couple of weeks back Aneventapart.com launch a challenge to web developers to develop an inspiring web applications with a size of less than 10 kilobytes. In this post I will handpick an application from that event that is very useful from day to day use for web developers and designers. Taskboard 10k is a light-weight on-line whiteboard for your task and notes about life, the universe and everything.
Work at gdgt - gdgt
If you love bending boxes to your will and watching web apps scale beyond reasonable expectations, we'd love to talk. We're looking for a system operations lead to help us keep availability crazy high and response times absurdly low. Naturally, you'll need to legally be able to work in the US , and, if specified, be in proximity to the position in question (or willing to relocate).
Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff, an exclusive Boing Boing preview - Boing Boing
Program or be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age is the new book by Douglas Rushkoff, an author, documentarian, media theorist, and great friend of all of us at Boing Boing. This week, we are pleased to have Douglas as a guest blogger. To kick things off, here's a full chapter from his book. And for the remainder of the week, Boing Boing readers will get 20% off the price of the book or ebook in addition to whatever discount may already exist (currently 15%, for a total of 35% off). Just type BOING in the discount box on the final ordering screen. -- Mark Chapter 3: CHOICEIDEO Reimagines the Future of Personal Banking | Design for Good | Big Think
Design and innovation powerhouse IDEO is known for using design thinking and keen behavioral insight to reinvent object, products and systems that touch our daily lives. Most recently, they envisioned three scenarios for the future of the book , but one of their more interesting new projects looks at something far less exciting but arguably more central to our day-to-day operation: personal banking. For Spanish bank BBVA, IDEO examined the interaction experience of ATM's, which has lagged dramatically behind the actual technology powering these machines. From simple yet impactful tweaks like 90-degree booth rotation for better privacy to cutting-edge customization software, the prototype -- which took two years of development -- offers a seamless, highly visual bridge between physical and virtual.
A catastrophic systems failure at cloud-based software provider, Navitaire , a business process outsourcing (BPO) unit of Accenture , disrupted travel for 50,000 customers of Virgin Blue airlines in Australia. The situation offers important lessons for buyers of cloud-based outsourcing services. Related: Virgin’s cloud failure: Rebuttal and a deeper perspective Virgin Blue provided details in a press release : Navitaire is the supplier of Virgin Blue’s reservation and distribution software platform and also hosts that platform on its own server infrastructure at a data centre in Sydney.
Cloud-based IT failure halts Virgin flights | ZDNet
These are some notes on “ The Map that changed the World: The Tale of William Smith and The Birth of a Science ” by Simon Winchester. It is the story of the creation, by William Smith , of the first geological map of England and Wales, and the first such map on this scale in the world. A geological map shows the distribution of different rock types on the earth’s surface. Sedimentary rocks are laid down in horizontal layers, known as strata, subsequently these layers may be deformed and distorted.
Book review: The Map that Changed the World
National Institute on Money in State Politics | Follow The Money
On February 2, 2012, USA Today reported that one day prior, Governor Mitch Daniels signed HB 1001, making Indiana the 23rd state in the nation to be deemed “right to work.” Indiana is the first state in the “Rust Belt” … Continue reading Through a Different LensPrivacy