Use of computers for artificial intelligence. What does this say about the gap between humans and machines?
Thursday, 16 December 2010
IBM's Watson to appear on Jeopardy, confirms even supercomputers are dumbing down | Crave | CNET UK
IBM's Watson to appear on Jeopardy, confirms even supercomputers are dumbing down | Crave | CNET UK
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Google Shows Reading Levels for Search Results
Check out this article I found:
Google Shows Reading Levels for Search Results
Google Operating System
Google's advanced search page has a new feature that lets you restrict results to a certain reading level. You can choose from showing basic results, intermediate results, advanced results or annotating the results with reading levels."Sometimes you may want to limit your search results to a specifi…
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2010/12/google-shows-reading-levels-for-search.html
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
DEADLINE FOR THE EBOOK
You will be expected to work on your ebook for completion on the Friday 22/1/11 of the 3rd week back in January.
No excuses about mocks etc, you should be managing your homework time between now and then in order to meet this deadline.
We will be setting this as a homework task and monitoring your performance from next week onwards. Next week will be an Ebook week so make sure you are ready to work on it all next week, bring in relevant pictures/videos/mp3s/animations and text research.
No excuses about mocks etc, you should be managing your homework time between now and then in order to meet this deadline.
We will be setting this as a homework task and monitoring your performance from next week onwards. Next week will be an Ebook week so make sure you are ready to work on it all next week, bring in relevant pictures/videos/mp3s/animations and text research.
Sunday, 5 December 2010
NetNewsWire (05/12/2010 22:29)
Man says Droid exploded mid phone call
An incendiary conversation
A Texas man says he had to get four stitches in his ear after a spanking new Droid 2 smartphone exploded while he was in mid conversation.…
An incendiary conversation
A Texas man says he had to get four stitches in his ear after a spanking new Droid 2 smartphone exploded while he was in mid conversation.…
A New Meaning to the word ‘iLife’
Coach Eric Cooper Sr. never thought he would need to save one of his player’s lives, nor did he think an iPhone app would assist him in doing so.
The LA Times reported that Xavier Jones, a player on Coach Cooper’s basketball team, collapsed during practice after his heart stopped beating from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle becomes hardened, making it more difficult for it to pump blood. Coach Cooper and an assistant coach rushed out to see what the problem was. After checking and not detecting a heartbeat, Cooper pulled out his iPhone and launched Phone Aid, which gave them detailed instructions on how to perform CPR to get his heart started again. Read More
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
WIKILEAKS GUARDIAN ANALYSIS OF THE DATA
Very interesting analysis.
What does this mean for national security?
How should government run when we can read these sort of leaks easily?
Is this good or bad for society to know this government info.
Amazon knows what you want before you do
See this video and consider the implications for you and also for bricks and mortar stores (normal stores)
Think about what redecorate the store for every customer means - can normal high st stores complete? How would they complete ?They become niche/specialist.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Robots being used at the amazon warehouse, read about benefits of the system for company and workers of this system
How does this help the company and employee?
How does the improved accuracy help the customer and business?
What are the implications for staff in the long term?
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Will videoconferencing replace the telephone?
Check out this article I found:
Will videoconferencing replace the telephone?
Macworld
For people who want to see who they're talking to, there are fewer barriers than ever to completing the picture. Yet video calling has yet to achieve the worry-free ease of traditional phone calls or even mobile text messages.
http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=50a4efefce190a68d9c814c2ecefcc3e
Monday, 22 November 2010
Article: 8 Ways Technology Is Improving Education
8 Ways Technology Is Improving Education
http://mashable.com/2010/11/22/technology-in-education/
(Sent from Flipboard)
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Corrections to section 1.3
Please make any corrections that have been requested by next Tuesday. Then email to Mr H.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, 15 November 2010
Information in modern organisations
Information in modern organisations
1. List all the organisations that they can think of in 5 minutes. What are the common factors that they all have?
2. Activity 1 p119 - categorise the organisations.
3. Activity 2 p 120: Do the NHS direct activity.
4. Activity 4: p121: do the public sector task.
***** Last 20 mins of the lesson peer assess one other persons 1.3 work and give them comments. Use the link on the blog to check what they need to have included in their work.
Send comments via email to the person you checked and Mr H.
1. List all the organisations that they can think of in 5 minutes. What are the common factors that they all have?
2. Activity 1 p119 - categorise the organisations.
3. Activity 2 p 120: Do the NHS direct activity.
4. Activity 4: p121: do the public sector task.
***** Last 20 mins of the lesson peer assess one other persons 1.3 work and give them comments. Use the link on the blog to check what they need to have included in their work.
Send comments via email to the person you checked and Mr H.
Friday, 12 November 2010
Can you draw the internet?
http://www.canyoudrawtheinternet.com/
This is a fun task for you to try in a lesson today as it's European
Internet Week !!!
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Inequalities divide UK net users
Inequalities divide UK net users
BBC NEWS - TECHNOLOGY | 11 NOVEMBER 2010
http://pulsene.ws/hFNf
More Britons than ever have access to the internet, but inequalities remain between those with high and low incomes, official ...
--
Shared via Pulse, an awesome news reader for iPad, iPhone and Android. Check it out!
Sent from my iPhone
Prototype 1 - create your home page
Include: your details, school details, links to start the ebook, an introductory paragraph explaining the purpose and aims of the book.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
PROTOTYPING YOUR PAGES
You need to make a series of designs for the Main page, Section pages, and Content pages.
These will need to be submitted before the coursework is begun fully.
These will need to be submitted before the coursework is begun fully.
Monday, 8 November 2010
YouTube - Basic HTML and CSS Tutorial. Howto make website from scratch
YouTube - Basic HTML and CSS Tutorial. Howto make website from scratch
Excellent tutorial on how to design and tweak website using just notepad and css.
Excellent tutorial on how to design and tweak website using just notepad and css.
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Class blogs: a better way to teach?
Check out this article I found:
Class blogs: a better way to teach?
Technology news, comment and analysis | Technology | guardian.co.uk
We look at one teacher who's using blogging as a creative way of showcasing pupils' workThere was a time teachers lagged behind their pupils when it came to computers. "We have to show them what to do every time it crashes," eight-year-olds complained loftily to their parents.But computers are at th…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2010/nov/04/class-blog-alex-wilson
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Your Smartphone Is a Better PC than Your PC Ever Was or Will Be [Opinion]
Your Smartphone Is a Better PC than Your PC Ever Was or Will Be [Opinion]
LIFEHACKER | 4 NOVEMBER 2010
http://pulsene.ws/eWrA
--
Shared via Pulse, an awesome news reader for iPad, iPhone and Android. Check it out!
Sent from my iPhone
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
MoS suspends filesharing action
MoS suspends filesharing action
Record label drops plan to send warning notices to more than 25,000 BT broadband customers after ISP deletes their details
Ministry of Sound is suspending plans to send warning notices to more than 25,000 BT broadband customers suspected of illegal downloading, claiming that the internet service provider has deleted their details.
BT had agreed to retain the personal details of 20,000 of its customers earlier this year, so that Ministry of Sound could pursue them once an injunction on the court order was lifted. However, the record label today said that BT had "failed to preserve" the details.
The telecoms company was granted an injunction on the original court order, submitted by law firm Gallant Macmillan on behalf of Ministry of Sound, on 4 October. The broadband provider argued that it would continue to challenge such orders – known as "Norwich Pharmacal orders" – until the rights holder and law firm can prove that accusations of illegal filesharing have "some basis".
Ministry of Sound claims that Gallant Macmillan, and the technology company DigiRights Solutions had identified more than 150,000 UK IP addresses sharing the label's copyrighted content.
The Ministry of Sound chief executive, Lohan Presencer, said: "It is very disappointing that BT decided not to preserve the identities of the illegal uploaders. Given that less than 20% of the names remain and BT costs have soared from a few thousand pounds to several hundred thousand pounds, it makes no economic sense to continue with this application. We are more determined than ever to go after internet users who illegally upload our copyrighted material.
"We will be making further applications for information from all ISPs. Every time that a track or album is uploaded to the web it is depriving artists of royalties and reducing the money which we can invest in new British talent."
A BT spokesman responded: "We're surprised at this claim since we provided a similar number of customer details to comply with a court order earlier this year for Ministry of Sound and there was no suggestion then that this was a problem for them.
"All such information is automatically deleted from our systems after 90 days in accordance with our data retention policy; the Ministry of Sound and its solicitors are well aware of this. Upon request from Ministry of Sound we saved as much of the specific data sought as we reasonably could and any not preserved must have been too old. Our door remains open to Ministry of Sound and any other rights holder who wants to enforce their rights in a fair way through an established legal process."
The spokesman added that BT would now write to law firms ACS:Law and Gallant Macmillan seeking their agreement to a revised approach to granted court orders. He said that any rights holder seeking future disclosure of customer details through court orders would have to agree to this approach.
"Ministry of Sound's decision is clearly a matter for them. It's a shame though that, in this instance, our concerns over the current process will not be examined by the court," the spokesman added.
"However, it remains our intention to ensure our broadband customers are adequately protected so that rights holders can pursue their claims for copyright infringement without causing unnecessary worry to innocent people.
"BT believes that with appropriate safeguards to protect customers' rights, confidence in the Norwich Pharmacal process can be restored so that rights holders can feel able to use it to seek redress for online copyright infringement.
"The safeguards we aim to establish via the court are on the security of data handling, a threshold for providing a customer's details based on a minimum number of separate incidents, the tone of contact with broadband subscribers and a reasonable approach to financial compensation sought."
The process of identifying and pursuing internet users suspected of illegal filesharing was called into question earlier this year following the online leak of personal details of thousands of UK broadband users from ACS:Law.
ACS:Law attracted the ire of online activists for its method of tracking and pursuing those it suspects of sharing copyrighted material. Hundreds of internet users ordered to pay a fine by the company complained that they had been wrongly identified and are now looking to form a class action lawsuit against the firm.
The law firm's website was targeted with a coordinated attack in September, knocking it temporarily offline. But the information it held about thousands of internet users was uploaded online in the aftermath of the attack. The information commissioner is now investigating the data breach.
If it is determined that the exposure was the result of ACS:Law's own data security shortcomings, rather than the fault of external hackers, the information commissioner could levy a £500,000 fine on the law firm.
Solicitors acting on behalf of rights holders gain the contact details of broadband customers they suspect of sharing copyrighted content by applying for a court order against the relevant ISP. Most, if not all, of the ISPs subjected to these orders have now said they will contest them until the security of customer data is assured.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Sent from my iPhone
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
High fashion stoops to e-commerce
Check out this article I found:
High fashion stoops to e-commerce
BBC News - Technology
The big fashion houses such as Prada and Armani are finding a new market online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/business-11647939
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Security firms differ on severity of new Mac malware threat
Check out this article I found:
Security firms differ on severity of new Mac malware threat
Macworld
A new cross-platform malware could pose a threat to Mac users, but some security firms say that concerns are overblown.
http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=639c8da17be565eef1e492648957f76c
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Digital divide solar power
Read the first section on this pdf for info about solar power in LEDCs.
http://www.lcdinternational.org/file/Link%20Schools%20Newsletter%20October.pdf
http://www.lcdinternational.org/file/Link%20Schools%20Newsletter%20October.pdf
Monday, 18 October 2010
Digital Divide work
PDF file of the lessons tasks http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4839291/1.3%20the%20digital%20divide%202.pdf
Friday, 15 October 2010
Making connections to get the country online
Hi,
I saw this and thought you should see it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/12/socialexclusion-communities
Sent via the Guardian's iPhone application.
Get it Here
I saw this and thought you should see it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/12/socialexclusion-communities
Sent via the Guardian's iPhone application.
Get it Here
Sent from my iPhone
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
The race to get the UK online
Check out this article I found:
The race to get the UK online
Technology news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk
Sunderland is way ahead in the race to get even its hardest-to-reach residents online. Can other areas learn from its approach?Karen Wood arranges her features into a look of curiosity-tinged suspicion as she describes how the members of the Pallion Action Group community centre's resident carpet bo…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/12/socialexclusion-communities
Monday, 11 October 2010
animation task October 11, 2010
http://cl.ly/2m5P - tutorial online
http://cl.ly/2mWr - png with frames
you will be expected to create an animation and insert it into your portfolio
choose a topic and create an animation. watch the tutorial for how to do this using fireworks.
to export the file as a flash file you will need to save as SWF , see the settings in the tutorial.
the png can be saved and opened in fireworks to see an example.
http://cl.ly/2mWr - png with frames
you will be expected to create an animation and insert it into your portfolio
choose a topic and create an animation. watch the tutorial for how to do this using fireworks.
to export the file as a flash file you will need to save as SWF , see the settings in the tutorial.
the png can be saved and opened in fireworks to see an example.
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Thursday, 7 October 2010
3d animations - alice.org - ignore this
see post about using fireworks instead
Here is an example of a 3d movie to illustrate a point. Using the Alice software you could create your own animation for something that fits with life in the info age. Incorporating an animation will help put your work in the higher mark boundary. You can download the Alice software at www.alice.org choose version 2.2. Upload your animation to the Alice hand in
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Shared items from google reader
Rather than post interesting items individually I will now be using the shared items gadget that you can see at the right side of the page. This will allow the normal posts to be more coursework oriented and the latest news items to be concentrated at the side of the page.
Also if you find an interesting article email it to me. You will need to do this at the beginning of next lesson!!!
Also if you find an interesting article email it to me. You will need to do this at the beginning of next lesson!!!
Dropbox - Home - Online backup, file sync and sharing made easy.
Dropbox - Home - Online backup, file sync and sharing made easy.
working styles this service allows you to sync and share files online
working styles this service allows you to sync and share files online
audacity to edit mp3s
use http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/mac to edit an mp3 on a relevant topic
Then use http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/ to enable mp3 export.
You can then use the edited podcast/music file into your work.
Then use http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/ to enable mp3 export.
You can then use the edited podcast/music file into your work.
decision making
It is important to stress that this area concentrates on the beneficial and negative impacts of ICT on the people within the Information Age, not on the services
Decision making : • Spreadsheets (‘what if’ scenarios, budgeting, forecasting, etc.).
• Simulation software (modelling – see Unit 3). • Data-mining tools (unearthing patterns in large databases such as – only as one example – the
correlation between a rise in the sales of Italian wine in a supermarket and the in-store promotion of pasta and sauce).
• Exception reporting tools, e.g. investigating all credit card transactions over a preset amount on an account,* looking in more depth at the sales performance of stores whose sales are more than 5 per cent below the average. (*Note that more sophisticated tools allow credit card companies to use artificial intelligence techniques to predict whether a particular card transaction is ‘abnormal’ and report it as an exception to be investigated.)
Decision making : • Spreadsheets (‘what if’ scenarios, budgeting, forecasting, etc.).
• Simulation software (modelling – see Unit 3). • Data-mining tools (unearthing patterns in large databases such as – only as one example – the
correlation between a rise in the sales of Italian wine in a supermarket and the in-store promotion of pasta and sauce).
• Exception reporting tools, e.g. investigating all credit card transactions over a preset amount on an account,* looking in more depth at the sales performance of stores whose sales are more than 5 per cent below the average. (*Note that more sophisticated tools allow credit card companies to use artificial intelligence techniques to predict whether a particular card transaction is ‘abnormal’ and report it as an exception to be investigated.)
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
@gadgetlab, 05/10/2010 20:07
 Gadget Lab (@gadgetlab)05/10/2010 20:07 Livescribe's Echo Smartpen lets you do almost everything http://bit.ly/aZtLkA |
Tony Curtis goes to grave with iPhone
http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/05/curtis_burial/
via Byline
Turn-by-turn directions to the afterlife
Tony Curtis went to his grave packing an iPhone yesterday, his family have revealed.…
Sent from my iPhone
via Byline
Turn-by-turn directions to the afterlife
Tony Curtis went to his grave packing an iPhone yesterday, his family have revealed.…
Sent from my iPhone
The real cost of free | Cory Doctorow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/oct/05/free-online-content-cory-doctorow
via Byline
Commenters who claim I tell artists to give their work away for free are wrong – and they should focus on the real online villains
Last week, my fellow Guardian columnist Helienne Lindvall published a piece headlined The cost of free, in which she called it "ironic" that "advocates of free online content" (including me) "charge hefty fees to speak at events".
Lindvall says she spoke to someone who approached an agency I once worked with to hire me for a lecture and was quoted $10,000-$20,000 (£6,300-£12,700) to speak at a college and $25,000 to speak at a conference. Lindvall goes on to talk about the fees commanded by other speakers, including Wired editor Chris Anderson, author of a book called "Free" (which I reviewed here in July 2009), Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde and marketing expert Seth Godin. In Lindvall's view, all of us are part of a united ideology that exhorts artists to give their work away for free, but we don't practice what we preach because we charge so much for our time.
It's unfortunate that Lindvall didn't bother to check her facts. I haven't been represented by the agency she referenced for several years, and in any event, no one has ever paid me $25,000 to appear at any event. Indeed, the vast majority of lectures I give are free (see here for the past six months' talks and their associated fees – out of approximately 95 talks I've given in the past six months, only 11 were paid, and the highest paid of those was £300). Furthermore, I don't use an agency for the majority of my bookings (mostly I book myself – I've only had one agency booking in the past two years). I'm not sure who the unfortunate conference organiser Lindvall spoke to was – Lindvall has not identified her source – but I'm astonished that this person managed to dig up the old agency, since it's not in the first 400 Google results for "Cory Doctorow".
It's true that my stock response to for-profit conferences and corporate events is to ask for $15,000 on the grounds that almost no one will pay that much so I get to stay home with my family and my work; but if anyone will, I'd be crazy to turn it down. Even so, I find myself travelling more than I'd like to, and usually I'm doing so at a loss.
Why do I do this? Well, that's the bit that Lindvall really got wrong.
You see, the real mistake Lindvall made was in saying that I tell artists to give their work away for free. I do no such thing.
The topic I leave my family and my desk to talk to people all over the world about is the risks to freedom arising from the failure of copyright giants to adapt to a world where it's impossible to prevent copying. Because it is impossible. Despite 15 long years of the copyright wars, despite draconian laws and savage penalties, despite secret treaties and widespread censorship, despite millions spent on ill-advised copy-prevention tools, more copying takes place today than ever before.
As I've written here before, copying isn't going to get harder, ever. Hard drives won't magically get bulkier but hold fewer bits and cost more.
Networks won't be harder to use. PCs won't be slower. People won't stop learning to type "Toy Story 3 bittorrent" into Google. Anyone who claims otherwise is selling something – generally some kind of unworkable magic anti-copying beans that they swear, this time, will really work.
So, assuming that copyright holders will never be able to stop or even slow down copying, what is to be done?
For me, the answer is simple: if I give away my ebooks under a Creative Commons licence that allows non-commercial sharing, I'll attract readers who buy hard copies. It's worked for me – I've had books on the New York Times bestseller list for the past two years.
What should other artists do? Well, I'm not really bothered. The sad truth is that almost everything almost every artist tries to earn money will fail. This has nothing to do with the internet, of course. Consider the remarkable statement from Alanis Morissette's attorney at the Future of Music Conference: 97% of the artists signed to a major label before Napster earned $600 or less a year from it. And these were the lucky lotto winners, the tiny fraction of 1% who made it to a record deal. Almost every artist who sets out to earn a living from art won't get there (for me, it took 19 years before I could afford to quit my day job), whether or not they give away their work, sign to a label, or stick it through every letterbox in Zone 1.
If you're an artist and you're interested in trying to give stuff away to sell more, I've got some advice for you, as I wrote here – I think it won't hurt and it could help, especially if you've got some other way, like a label or a publisher, to get people to care about your stuff in the first place.
But I don't care if you want to attempt to stop people from copying your work over the internet, or if you plan on building a business around this idea. I mean, it sounds daft to me, but I've been surprised before.
But here's what I do care about. I care if your plan involves using "digital rights management" technologies that prohibit people from opening up and improving their own property; if your plan requires that online services censor their user submissions; if your plan involves disconnecting whole families from the internet because they are accused of infringement; if your plan involves bulk surveillance of the internet to catch infringers, if your plan requires extraordinarily complex legislation to be shoved through parliament without democratic debate; if your plan prohibits me from keeping online videos of my personal life private because you won't be able to catch infringers if you can't spy on every video.
And this is the plan that the entertainment industries have pursued to in their doomed attempt to prevent copying. The US record industry has sued 40,000 people. The BBC has received Ofcom's approval to use our mandatory licence fees to lock up its broadcasts with DRM so that we can't tinker with or improve on our own TVs and recorders (and lest you think that this is no big deal, keep in mind that the entire web was created by amateurs tinkering with systems around them). What's more Apple, Audible, Sony and others have stitched up several digital distribution channels with mandatory DRM requirements, so copyright holders don't get to choose to make their works available on equitable terms.
In France, the HADOPI "three strikes" rule just went into effect; they're sending out 10,000 legal threats a week now, and have promised 150,000 a week in short order. After three unsubstantiated accusations of infringement, your whole family is disconnected from the Internet –from work, education, civic engagement, distant relatives, health information, community. And of course, we'll have the same regime here shortly, thanks to the Digital Economy Act, passed in a three-whip washup in the last days of parliament without any substantive debate, despite the thousands and thousands of Britons who asked their legislators to at least discuss this extraordinarily technical legislation before passing it into law.
Viacom is just one of the many entertainment giants suing companies like Google for allowing everyday people to upload content to the internet without reviewing its copyright status in advance. Never mind that there's 29 hours' worth of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, that there aren't enough lawyers in all the world to undertake such a review, and that throttling the videos (by charging uploaders for legal review, for example) would put practically every person who finds in YouTube the opportunity for personal and creative expression out of business.
Never mind that if this principle were passed into law, it would shutter every message board, Twitter, social networking service, blog, and mailing list in a second. That's bad enough, but in addition to these claims, Viacom has asked the court to order Google to make all user-uploaded content public so that Viacom and check in and ensure that it doesn't infringe copyright – Viacom thinks that its need to look at my videos is greater than my need to, say, flag a video of my two-year-old in the bath as private and visible only to me and her grandparents.
Meanwhile, the entertainment industries continues their push around the world for a series of China-style national firewalls (in the UK, former BPI executive Richard Mollet boasted of getting this legislation inserted into the Digital Economy Act).
This is an approach that millionaire pop stars like U2's Bono wholeheartedly endorse – last Christmas, he penned a New York Times op-ed calling for Chinese-style censorship everywhere. And just this month, MPAA representatives told the world's governments that adopting national internet censorship regimes for copyright would also allow them to block information embarrassing to their regimes, such as WikiLeaks.
The MPAA was addressing a meeting for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret treaty that is being negotiated away from the UN, behind closed doors, and which includes proposals to search iPods, phones and laptop hard-drives at the world's borders to look for infringement.
So yeah, if you want to try to control individual copies of your work on the internet, go ahead and try. I think it's a fool's errand, and so does almost every technical expert in the world, but what do we know?
But for so long as this plan involves embedding control, surveillance and censorship into the very fabric of the information society's infrastructure, I'll continue to tour the world, for free, spending every penny I have and every ounce of energy in my body to fight you.
Helienne, I can't fault you for not reading my Guardian columns; after all, I've never read yours. And while I do fault you for not correcting the record, I won't ask the Guardian's reader's editor to intervene or make silly, chiropractor-esque noises about libel. I'm a civil libertarian, and I have integrity, and I believe that the answer to bad speech is more speech, hence this column.
But you really ought to familiarise yourself with the ideologies of the people you're condemning before you tear into them. I don't agree with everything Chris Anderson says, but he hardly tells people to give their stuff away: mostly, Chris talks about how different pricing structures, loss-leaders, and sales techniques can be used to increase the bottom lines of creators, manufacturers, publishers and inventors, and he cites case studies of people who've made this work for them.
I have no idea what Seth Godin is doing on your hit-list: Seth's a marketing consultant. The last three times I've heard him speak, he's been talking about how to improve corporate communications and brand identity – that sort of thing. Sure, he apparently charges a very large sum of money for this advice, but that's the topsy-turvy world of marketing for you. If your point is that creative people deserve to get paid, then presumably you're all for Seth charging whatever the market will bear.
Now, Peter Sunde is an interesting case. He really does advocate something like totally unrestricted copying. But as you note yourself, this is a belief that he's prepared to go to jail for, which is generally considered the gold standard for sincerity (the only higher standard I know of is being prepared to die for your beliefs – you should ask Peter where he stands on this). If your point is that Peter is only shamming about his politics, how do you explain this willingness to be imprisoned for them? Also: given Peter's latest startup, Flattr, exists for the sole purpose of making it simple for audiences to pay artists, I think you might reconsider his place in your parade of villainy.
I understand perfectly well what you're saying in your column: people who give away some of their creative output for free in order to earn a living are the exception. Most artists will fail at this. What's more, their dirty secret is their sky-high appearance fees – they don't really earn a creative living at all. But authors have been on the lecture circuit forever – Dickens used to pull down $100,000 for US lecture tours, a staggering sum at the time. This isn't new – authors have lots to say, and many of us are secret extroverts, and quite enjoy the chance to step away from our desks to talk about the things we're passionate about.
But you think that anyone who talks up their success at giving away some work to sell other work is peddling fake hope. There may be someone out there who does this, but it sure isn't me. As I've told all of my writing students, counting on earning a living from your work, no matter how you promote it or release it, is a bad idea. All artists should have a fallback plan for feeding themselves and their families. This has nothing to do with the internet – it's been true since the days of cave paintings.
You know who peddles false hope to naive would-be artists? People who go around implying that but for all those internet pirates, there'd be full creative employment for all of us. That the reason artists earn so little is because our audiences can't be trusted, that once we get this pesky internet thing solved, there'll be jam tomorrow for everyone. If you want to damn someone for selling a bill of goods to creative people, go after the DRM vendors with their ridiculous claims about copy-proof files; go after the labels who say that wholesale lawsuits against fans on behalf of artists (where labels get to pocket the winnings) are good business; go after the studios who are suing to make it impossible for anyone to put independent video on the internet without a giant corporate legal budget.
And if you want to find someone who supports artists, look at organisations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who have advanced the cause of blanket licences for music, video and other creative works on the internet. As a songwriter, you'll be familiar with these licences: as you say, you get 3% every time someone performs your songs on stage. What EFF has asked for is the same deal for the net: let ISPs buy blanket licences on behalf of their customers, licensces that allow them to share all the music they're going to share anyway – but this way, artists get paid. Incidentally, this is also an approach favored by Larry Lessig, whom you also single out as "ironic" in your piece.
It's been 15 years since the US National Information Infrastructure hearings kicked off the digital copyright wars. And for all the extraordinary power grabbed by the entertainment giants since then, the letters of marque and the power to disconnect and the power to censor and the power to eavesdrop, none of it is paying artists. Those who say that they can control copies are wrong, and they will not profit by their strategy. They should be entitled to ruin their own lives, businesses and careers, but not if they're going to take down the rest of society in the process.
And that, Helienne, is what I tell people when I give my lectures, whether paid or free.
Cory Doctorow
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Sent from my iPhone
via Byline
Commenters who claim I tell artists to give their work away for free are wrong – and they should focus on the real online villains
Last week, my fellow Guardian columnist Helienne Lindvall published a piece headlined The cost of free, in which she called it "ironic" that "advocates of free online content" (including me) "charge hefty fees to speak at events".
Lindvall says she spoke to someone who approached an agency I once worked with to hire me for a lecture and was quoted $10,000-$20,000 (£6,300-£12,700) to speak at a college and $25,000 to speak at a conference. Lindvall goes on to talk about the fees commanded by other speakers, including Wired editor Chris Anderson, author of a book called "Free" (which I reviewed here in July 2009), Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde and marketing expert Seth Godin. In Lindvall's view, all of us are part of a united ideology that exhorts artists to give their work away for free, but we don't practice what we preach because we charge so much for our time.
It's unfortunate that Lindvall didn't bother to check her facts. I haven't been represented by the agency she referenced for several years, and in any event, no one has ever paid me $25,000 to appear at any event. Indeed, the vast majority of lectures I give are free (see here for the past six months' talks and their associated fees – out of approximately 95 talks I've given in the past six months, only 11 were paid, and the highest paid of those was £300). Furthermore, I don't use an agency for the majority of my bookings (mostly I book myself – I've only had one agency booking in the past two years). I'm not sure who the unfortunate conference organiser Lindvall spoke to was – Lindvall has not identified her source – but I'm astonished that this person managed to dig up the old agency, since it's not in the first 400 Google results for "Cory Doctorow".
It's true that my stock response to for-profit conferences and corporate events is to ask for $15,000 on the grounds that almost no one will pay that much so I get to stay home with my family and my work; but if anyone will, I'd be crazy to turn it down. Even so, I find myself travelling more than I'd like to, and usually I'm doing so at a loss.
Why do I do this? Well, that's the bit that Lindvall really got wrong.
You see, the real mistake Lindvall made was in saying that I tell artists to give their work away for free. I do no such thing.
The topic I leave my family and my desk to talk to people all over the world about is the risks to freedom arising from the failure of copyright giants to adapt to a world where it's impossible to prevent copying. Because it is impossible. Despite 15 long years of the copyright wars, despite draconian laws and savage penalties, despite secret treaties and widespread censorship, despite millions spent on ill-advised copy-prevention tools, more copying takes place today than ever before.
As I've written here before, copying isn't going to get harder, ever. Hard drives won't magically get bulkier but hold fewer bits and cost more.
Networks won't be harder to use. PCs won't be slower. People won't stop learning to type "Toy Story 3 bittorrent" into Google. Anyone who claims otherwise is selling something – generally some kind of unworkable magic anti-copying beans that they swear, this time, will really work.
So, assuming that copyright holders will never be able to stop or even slow down copying, what is to be done?
For me, the answer is simple: if I give away my ebooks under a Creative Commons licence that allows non-commercial sharing, I'll attract readers who buy hard copies. It's worked for me – I've had books on the New York Times bestseller list for the past two years.
What should other artists do? Well, I'm not really bothered. The sad truth is that almost everything almost every artist tries to earn money will fail. This has nothing to do with the internet, of course. Consider the remarkable statement from Alanis Morissette's attorney at the Future of Music Conference: 97% of the artists signed to a major label before Napster earned $600 or less a year from it. And these were the lucky lotto winners, the tiny fraction of 1% who made it to a record deal. Almost every artist who sets out to earn a living from art won't get there (for me, it took 19 years before I could afford to quit my day job), whether or not they give away their work, sign to a label, or stick it through every letterbox in Zone 1.
If you're an artist and you're interested in trying to give stuff away to sell more, I've got some advice for you, as I wrote here – I think it won't hurt and it could help, especially if you've got some other way, like a label or a publisher, to get people to care about your stuff in the first place.
But I don't care if you want to attempt to stop people from copying your work over the internet, or if you plan on building a business around this idea. I mean, it sounds daft to me, but I've been surprised before.
But here's what I do care about. I care if your plan involves using "digital rights management" technologies that prohibit people from opening up and improving their own property; if your plan requires that online services censor their user submissions; if your plan involves disconnecting whole families from the internet because they are accused of infringement; if your plan involves bulk surveillance of the internet to catch infringers, if your plan requires extraordinarily complex legislation to be shoved through parliament without democratic debate; if your plan prohibits me from keeping online videos of my personal life private because you won't be able to catch infringers if you can't spy on every video.
And this is the plan that the entertainment industries have pursued to in their doomed attempt to prevent copying. The US record industry has sued 40,000 people. The BBC has received Ofcom's approval to use our mandatory licence fees to lock up its broadcasts with DRM so that we can't tinker with or improve on our own TVs and recorders (and lest you think that this is no big deal, keep in mind that the entire web was created by amateurs tinkering with systems around them). What's more Apple, Audible, Sony and others have stitched up several digital distribution channels with mandatory DRM requirements, so copyright holders don't get to choose to make their works available on equitable terms.
In France, the HADOPI "three strikes" rule just went into effect; they're sending out 10,000 legal threats a week now, and have promised 150,000 a week in short order. After three unsubstantiated accusations of infringement, your whole family is disconnected from the Internet –from work, education, civic engagement, distant relatives, health information, community. And of course, we'll have the same regime here shortly, thanks to the Digital Economy Act, passed in a three-whip washup in the last days of parliament without any substantive debate, despite the thousands and thousands of Britons who asked their legislators to at least discuss this extraordinarily technical legislation before passing it into law.
Viacom is just one of the many entertainment giants suing companies like Google for allowing everyday people to upload content to the internet without reviewing its copyright status in advance. Never mind that there's 29 hours' worth of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, that there aren't enough lawyers in all the world to undertake such a review, and that throttling the videos (by charging uploaders for legal review, for example) would put practically every person who finds in YouTube the opportunity for personal and creative expression out of business.
Never mind that if this principle were passed into law, it would shutter every message board, Twitter, social networking service, blog, and mailing list in a second. That's bad enough, but in addition to these claims, Viacom has asked the court to order Google to make all user-uploaded content public so that Viacom and check in and ensure that it doesn't infringe copyright – Viacom thinks that its need to look at my videos is greater than my need to, say, flag a video of my two-year-old in the bath as private and visible only to me and her grandparents.
Meanwhile, the entertainment industries continues their push around the world for a series of China-style national firewalls (in the UK, former BPI executive Richard Mollet boasted of getting this legislation inserted into the Digital Economy Act).
This is an approach that millionaire pop stars like U2's Bono wholeheartedly endorse – last Christmas, he penned a New York Times op-ed calling for Chinese-style censorship everywhere. And just this month, MPAA representatives told the world's governments that adopting national internet censorship regimes for copyright would also allow them to block information embarrassing to their regimes, such as WikiLeaks.
The MPAA was addressing a meeting for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret treaty that is being negotiated away from the UN, behind closed doors, and which includes proposals to search iPods, phones and laptop hard-drives at the world's borders to look for infringement.
So yeah, if you want to try to control individual copies of your work on the internet, go ahead and try. I think it's a fool's errand, and so does almost every technical expert in the world, but what do we know?
But for so long as this plan involves embedding control, surveillance and censorship into the very fabric of the information society's infrastructure, I'll continue to tour the world, for free, spending every penny I have and every ounce of energy in my body to fight you.
Helienne, I can't fault you for not reading my Guardian columns; after all, I've never read yours. And while I do fault you for not correcting the record, I won't ask the Guardian's reader's editor to intervene or make silly, chiropractor-esque noises about libel. I'm a civil libertarian, and I have integrity, and I believe that the answer to bad speech is more speech, hence this column.
But you really ought to familiarise yourself with the ideologies of the people you're condemning before you tear into them. I don't agree with everything Chris Anderson says, but he hardly tells people to give their stuff away: mostly, Chris talks about how different pricing structures, loss-leaders, and sales techniques can be used to increase the bottom lines of creators, manufacturers, publishers and inventors, and he cites case studies of people who've made this work for them.
I have no idea what Seth Godin is doing on your hit-list: Seth's a marketing consultant. The last three times I've heard him speak, he's been talking about how to improve corporate communications and brand identity – that sort of thing. Sure, he apparently charges a very large sum of money for this advice, but that's the topsy-turvy world of marketing for you. If your point is that creative people deserve to get paid, then presumably you're all for Seth charging whatever the market will bear.
Now, Peter Sunde is an interesting case. He really does advocate something like totally unrestricted copying. But as you note yourself, this is a belief that he's prepared to go to jail for, which is generally considered the gold standard for sincerity (the only higher standard I know of is being prepared to die for your beliefs – you should ask Peter where he stands on this). If your point is that Peter is only shamming about his politics, how do you explain this willingness to be imprisoned for them? Also: given Peter's latest startup, Flattr, exists for the sole purpose of making it simple for audiences to pay artists, I think you might reconsider his place in your parade of villainy.
I understand perfectly well what you're saying in your column: people who give away some of their creative output for free in order to earn a living are the exception. Most artists will fail at this. What's more, their dirty secret is their sky-high appearance fees – they don't really earn a creative living at all. But authors have been on the lecture circuit forever – Dickens used to pull down $100,000 for US lecture tours, a staggering sum at the time. This isn't new – authors have lots to say, and many of us are secret extroverts, and quite enjoy the chance to step away from our desks to talk about the things we're passionate about.
But you think that anyone who talks up their success at giving away some work to sell other work is peddling fake hope. There may be someone out there who does this, but it sure isn't me. As I've told all of my writing students, counting on earning a living from your work, no matter how you promote it or release it, is a bad idea. All artists should have a fallback plan for feeding themselves and their families. This has nothing to do with the internet – it's been true since the days of cave paintings.
You know who peddles false hope to naive would-be artists? People who go around implying that but for all those internet pirates, there'd be full creative employment for all of us. That the reason artists earn so little is because our audiences can't be trusted, that once we get this pesky internet thing solved, there'll be jam tomorrow for everyone. If you want to damn someone for selling a bill of goods to creative people, go after the DRM vendors with their ridiculous claims about copy-proof files; go after the labels who say that wholesale lawsuits against fans on behalf of artists (where labels get to pocket the winnings) are good business; go after the studios who are suing to make it impossible for anyone to put independent video on the internet without a giant corporate legal budget.
And if you want to find someone who supports artists, look at organisations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who have advanced the cause of blanket licences for music, video and other creative works on the internet. As a songwriter, you'll be familiar with these licences: as you say, you get 3% every time someone performs your songs on stage. What EFF has asked for is the same deal for the net: let ISPs buy blanket licences on behalf of their customers, licensces that allow them to share all the music they're going to share anyway – but this way, artists get paid. Incidentally, this is also an approach favored by Larry Lessig, whom you also single out as "ironic" in your piece.
It's been 15 years since the US National Information Infrastructure hearings kicked off the digital copyright wars. And for all the extraordinary power grabbed by the entertainment giants since then, the letters of marque and the power to disconnect and the power to censor and the power to eavesdrop, none of it is paying artists. Those who say that they can control copies are wrong, and they will not profit by their strategy. They should be entitled to ruin their own lives, businesses and careers, but not if they're going to take down the rest of society in the process.
And that, Helienne, is what I tell people when I give my lectures, whether paid or free.
Cory Doctorow
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Sent from my iPhone
Report of iTunes email "virus" called into question [U]
http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=d794b4297bc2bc78a91350de37006ed6
via Byline
(Updated with additional details, original story has been corrected) An error in terminology in a report from Youngstown, Ohio's CBS television affiliate WKBN-TV has prompted untrue claims of an "iTunes virus" spreading through e-mail, on Facebook and around the web. The message, faked to look like it is from "do_not_reply@apple.com," resembles a receipt from iTunes and embeds links for the recipient to click to question the charges on a website set up to look like iTunes. Update: After being corrected by readers, the station eventually rewrote the story to omit the...
Sent from my iPhone
via Byline
(Updated with additional details, original story has been corrected) An error in terminology in a report from Youngstown, Ohio's CBS television affiliate WKBN-TV has prompted untrue claims of an "iTunes virus" spreading through e-mail, on Facebook and around the web. The message, faked to look like it is from "do_not_reply@apple.com," resembles a receipt from iTunes and embeds links for the recipient to click to question the charges on a website set up to look like iTunes. Update: After being corrected by readers, the station eventually rewrote the story to omit the...
Sent from my iPhone
Monday, 4 October 2010
BBC - Outriders podcasts
BBC - Outriders. You should listen to some podcasts about tech to get some background info for your ebook.
http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Latest-News/Workplace-Bullying-Recognize-and-Prevent-It-884670/?kc=CIOMINUTE10042010CIO1
Workplace bullying expert Dr. Gary Namie, President of the Workplace Bullying Institute defines bullying as “repeated mistreatment: sabotage by others that prevent work from getting done, verbal abuse, threatening conduct, intimidation and humiliation.” It is any behavior by employers or co-workers that subject targets to repeated, abusive conduct resulting in health-harming physical and psychological effects. Information and communications technologies such as E-mail, Instant Messaging and social networks can be part of this toxic mix of mistreatment. Indeed, while much research has been devoted to the study of cyber-bullying in middle- and high-school, there is little credible research to date on the role of cyber-bullying in the workplace.
http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Latest-News/Workplace-Bullying-Recognize-and-Prevent-It-884670/?kc=CIOMINUTE10042010CIO1
At the White House, getting in touch with the inner circle's inner iPads
At the White House, getting in touch with the inner circle's inner iPads 04/10/2010 13:20
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/07/AR2010060701140.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/07/AR2010060701140.html
iPads and iMacs At Downing Street
4 iPads and iMacs At Downing Street by Federico Viticci The White House is full of iPad users, the same is happening at Number 10, Downing Street in London. Actually, it turns out that David Cameron’s residence might be full of iPads, iMacs and VNC clients.
http://www.macstories.net/ipad/ipads-and-imacs-at-downing-street/#more-11303
http://www.macstories.net/ipad/ipads-and-imacs-at-downing-street/#more-11303
Official Google Blog: Discussing free expression at Internet at Liberty 2010
Discussing free expression at Internet at Liberty 2010
10/01/2010 09:22:00 AM
It’s not often that we get to step out of our everyday jobs and spend extended time engaging in global conversations about one of our fundamental values at Google: ensuring access to information. For three days last week in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, we had that chance when more than 300 bloggers, activists, academics, government officials and representatives of non-profits and business convened for “Internet at Liberty 2010.” The conference, which we co-hosted with the Central European University, focused on “the promise and peril of online free expression” and the role of individuals, corporations and government in protecting free expression online.
Official Google Blog: Discussing free expression at Internet at Liberty 2010
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/discussing-free-expression-at-internet.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMKuf+%28Official+Google+Blog%29
10/01/2010 09:22:00 AM
It’s not often that we get to step out of our everyday jobs and spend extended time engaging in global conversations about one of our fundamental values at Google: ensuring access to information. For three days last week in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, we had that chance when more than 300 bloggers, activists, academics, government officials and representatives of non-profits and business convened for “Internet at Liberty 2010.” The conference, which we co-hosted with the Central European University, focused on “the promise and peril of online free expression” and the role of individuals, corporations and government in protecting free expression online.
Official Google Blog: Discussing free expression at Internet at Liberty 2010
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/discussing-free-expression-at-internet.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMKuf+%28Official+Google+Blog%29
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Martha Lane Fox introduces the data which shows the digital divide | News | guardian.co.uk
The data which shows the digital divide
Millions of us have no access to the internet. The UK's Digital Champion explains why that matters - and introduces the data that shows how • Get the data
Martha Lane Fox introduces the data which shows the digital divide | News | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jul/12/digital-divide-martha-lane-fox
Millions of us have no access to the internet. The UK's Digital Champion explains why that matters - and introduces the data that shows how • Get the data
Martha Lane Fox introduces the data which shows the digital divide | News | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jul/12/digital-divide-martha-lane-fox
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Trucker pulled with DVD and laptop on dashboard
Trucker pulled with DVD and laptop on dashboard
Cops unimpressed by high-tech accessories
Central Scotland Police have expressed their incredulity at a trucker who was happily making his way from Aberdeen to Dover with a DVD player and laptop on his Hungarian vehicle's dashboard.…Sent from my iPhone
Friday, 1 October 2010
MoD labels Facebook Places a 'targeting pack' for terrorists
MoD labels Facebook Places a 'targeting pack' for terrorists
Northern Ireland threat over location data
Exclusive Security chiefs have cautioned army, navy and RAF personnel to disable Facebook Places, over fears it could be used by terrorists to identify and track targets.…
Reg Guide to Enterprise Virtualization - Free Download!
The Register 01/10/2010 13:26
Northern Ireland threat over location data
Exclusive Security chiefs have cautioned army, navy and RAF personnel to disable Facebook Places, over fears it could be used by terrorists to identify and track targets.…
Reg Guide to Enterprise Virtualization - Free Download!
The Register 01/10/2010 13:26
driving whilst texting
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/24/news/la-heb-distracted-driving-20100924
Creating his 'Living World in a Box'
Creating his 'Living World in a Box' Written by David Kushner, GAMEPRO Friday, 09 July 2010 Dave Jones, entrepreneurial game designer known for Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings, talks about getting beat up by Scottish gangs as a kid for achieving a high score in Galaga, how GTA originally had dinosaurs roaming its city streets, and his new open-world MMO game, All Points Bulletin. It's a grim gray day in Dundee, Scotland, an industrial city an hour north of Edinburgh, and Dave Jones is up to his usual tricks: stealing cars. And mugging pedestrians. And, oh, yeah, smashing through a storefront window. "I'm a criminal," he says, unapologetically, as glass rains down on his car's hood, "so I can do what I want." Fortunately for his wife and kid, the boyish 44-year-old is only wreaking havoc online. He's in a high-ceilinged conference room at his company, Realtime Worlds, playing All Points Bulletin, his massively multiplayer crime game due this summer. Jones taps at his keyboard as his brawny avatar onscreen swipes some electronics from the broken window of a store. "Video cameras sell well," he says as he maneuvers his avatar back to his car. "I'll put these in the trunk and take them to a place where I can sell them." "I tell my guys here, we have three to five minutes to capture people’s full attention." -Dave Jones, game designer of Grand Theft Auto, Lemmings, Crackdown, APB With APB pushing nearly a decade in development, players may start breaking down real doors to finally get their paws on Jones's game. They have reason to riot. Jones, after two decades in the business, occupies the tiny pantheon of certifiable game gods. His quirky first hit, Lemmings, became a chart-topping sensation and pioneered the real-time strategy genre. His next smash, a little game called Grand Theft Auto, pioneered the killer stuff-open-world mayhem, darkly comic urban realism, radio stations, etc.-which gamers now take for granted. Crackdown, his candy-colored, superhero/crime-lord mashup, is spawning its own sequel this summer. Though themes recur, Jones is pathologically allergic to repeating himself-or anyone else for that matter-which makes APB all the more enticing and ambitious. "For me the ultimate video game is to take elements of Crackdown [and] Grand Theft Auto, with huge open worlds and as many players as possible," he says. "That kind of stuff excites most players, and I feel APB is the first step." APB is the game Jones has been working his entire career to create. His expertise in gangs, gritty cities, and video games goes back to one fateful afternoon in the 1980s. The puckish young brainiac was playing Galaga, the classic arcade shooter, in a fish-and-chip shop in Dundee, elated to be setting the high score. There was just one problem. Dundee, a rough old whaling town, was teeming with teenage gangs with names like the Huns and the Shams, and the local toughs didn't take kindly to this carrot-topped geek besting them on their home turf. Just after Jones typed in his initials, the gang chased him out of the shop and beat him silly. "I got my ass kicked for setting the high score in the area," Jones recalls, with a laugh. "That was just part of growing up." But the experience left him with more than bruises. The early arcade machines taught him the importance of immersing players quickly and compellingly. "They taught you what was good and what made you put in more money," he says. "I tell my guys here [that] we have three to five minutes to capture people's full attention." After a stint making Sinclair ZX81s and ZX Spectrum personal computers at Dundee's local Timex plant, Jones stayed up all night in his parents' house to make his first game, an arcade-style action game for the Commodore Amiga called Menace that came out in 1988. The game sold well, but not enough to convince Jones's professors that this was actually a viable career. "Everybody thought I was crazy," he says. Jones quickly proved them wrong in 1991 with Lemmings. In hindsight, the puzzle game-which challenges you to save hapless little creatures from their doom-doesn't seem to portend GTA or APB. But it boasts Jones's trademarks: the dark humor, the fast action, and the teeming, artificially intelligent organisms composing what he calls a "living, breathing world." Or, in essence, a real-time world. In fact, gamers might be surprised to learn that one of the industry's most raucous franchises, Grand Theft Auto, started out as a sim. A programmer at Jones's start-up, DMA Design, had come up with a scrolling demo of a city viewed from the top down. Jones immediately saw an opportunity to bring his dream of the ultimate virtual world to life. "I had this fascination with how alive and dynamic we could make the city from very little memory and very little processing speed," he says. "How could we make something living inside the machine?" Jones's team spent months toying around with the city, filling the streets with dinosaurs (seriously) and then cars. At first, under the working title Race 'N Chase, gamers actually played the good guy-a cop busting robbers. The cops-and-robbers setup, which would run through the entire GTA franchise as well as Crackdown and APB, appealed to Jones's core aesthetic-hooking players immediately by casting them into a familiar world. "Cops and robbers is a natural rule set that everybody understands," he says. "For me, it's pure escapism -— it's what video games are all about. I like linear story based games as well, like Half-Life and Mass Effect, but only video games can create an experience where you feel like you can go anywhere, poke at anything, prod anything, just try stuff and shape your own experiences." - Dave Jones But it didn't take long to understand that it's a lot more fun to be the bad guy. The key insight, says former DMAer Brian Baglow, came when they realized it was easier to let players run over pedestrians than avoid them. From there, one idea cascaded to the next. "Wouldn't it be cool if you run over pedestrians and the ambulance came?" Jones asked. "And when the ambulance guy got out, you could steal his ambulance! It became like a toy box, which is where the idea of the sandbox came from." While other games from Elite to The Legend of Zelda tinkered with freeform exploration, Grand Theft Auto-as the game was dubbed by the publisher's marketing team-broke down the fourth wall like nothing before. "For me, it's pure escapism-it's what video games are all about." Jones says. "I like linear story-based games as well, like Half-Life and Mass Effect, but only video games can create an experience where you feel like you can go anywhere, poke at anything, prod anything-just try stuff and shape your own experiences. For me, having a canvas for a rich, living world is great for building game experiences." After completing GTA and GTA2, however, Jones felt he had done all he could do with that franchise, and he was ready to build an even more ambitious game experience of his own. The seeds of APB had been planted. And he knew just the place he wanted to bring it to life: online. In the real world, Realtime Worlds operates out of an old brick warehouse in the heart of Dundee. Scruffy young guys mill from the billiard table and foosball machine on the ground floor lounge up to the programming suite decorated with tiger posters upstairs. Over 140 artists and programmers hunch at their PCs, handcrafting interiors of APB's city and tweaking the freckles on the Enforcers. Jones is known for his obsession with details. "Dave is an innovator and a perfectionist," says Realtime Worlds' chairperson and chief executive officer, Ian Hetherington, "and he's kind of demanding to work with. But you get the results." The sprawling world in the game, like most of Jones's dreams, lives online. The spark came when Jones launched Realtime Worlds in 2002. Massively multiplayer games were just taking off, and Jones had become entranced by Dark Age of Camelot. Jones, long compelled by creating a living world in a box, wanted to take his vision to the ultimate end-not just a passing fad of a game, but a truly persistent game world online. Jones wanted to know, "Could you create a game that had longevity? That became APB." Though Crackdown was a critical and commercial hit in its own right, Jones now describes it as a "stepping stone" for his company. Realtime Worlds used the game to experiment with some nascent gameplay features-such as dropping in midgame with other players in co-op mode. And since Jones hadn't stuck around to experience Grand Theft Auto's shift to 3D with GTAIII, this was his chance to go street view. "We were learning the technology to eventually do an even bigger open-world 3D game," he says. APB is built on what Jones calls the three Cs: conflict, creativity, and celebrity. The conflict takes place in San Paro, a sprawling fictional city (roughly an area of 20-by-20 miles in real-world terms). And the warring factions are primal: cops and robbers, or as Jones prefers to put it, Enforcers vs. Criminals. "Cops tend to be pretty boring," he says. "Enforcers in our games are really, really cool." "The simple, easy way out is to call APB a Grand Theft Auto MMO, but that doesn't do it justice. This is an online persistent action game. You won't see references to prostitutes or anything like that. It's not controversy for controversy's sake." - E.J. Moreland, lead designer on APB Movies like Heat, Scarface, and The Warriors inspired the team. But Jones didn't want to rely on cinematics to tell the story, and instead he focused on bringing a cinematic feel to the missions within the game. Just like a great heist flick, players are led down back alleys and over fences, in car and on foot, to pull off missions. "When you look at great movies and sequences, this is what they do," says Jones. "Everything's very carefully designed." A quick video-capture mode also lets players record their runs (just the thing for the inevitable APB machinima DIY videos to come). The shadow of Grand Theft Auto looms large over APB-too large at times for the Realtime Worlds team. "The simple, easy way out is to call APB a Grand Theft Auto MMO, but that doesn't do it justice," says APB Lead Designer E.J. Moreland. Instead the team's rallying around a different tagline: "This is an online persistent action game," Moreland says. Oh, yeah, and no hookers. "You won't see references to prostitutes or anything like that," Jones says. "It's not controversy for controversy's sake." In total, the game can accommodate up to 10,000 concurrent players per world, with 100 players competing together at a time. But Jones labored to make sure that matchmaking was no standard (and boring) wait in the lobby. APB uses a unique system that matches players based on their so-called Threat Level, essentially how notorious they are in the game. In some cases, the system might pair a single player with a higher Threat Level against two players with lower ratings to make a more well- balanced match. A core group consists of four players, but it can grow to as much as a 20-vs.-20 smackdown. Once in the world, gamers can choose to accept missions from the NPCs by hitting the Y key and then go off on quests that take roughly 10 to 15 minutes to complete-these range from retrieving stolen items to arresting marauding clans. Though APB is epic in size, Jones's team took great pains to keep it familiar and accessible enough so players can boot up and dive in. Controls stick to the standard WASD layout, with the F key dedicated for all actions. Jones puts unprecedented creativity in the APB players' hands. Since the game is about warring clans, refining your identity isn't just a gratuitous add-on; it's central to boosting your status in the game. To change your appearance, you visit an area in San Paro called the Social District. The persona studio lets you modify your avatar but in a strikingly more nuanced way than standard mohawks and muscle shirts. Sliders and palettes give you millions of iterations to design, from the muscularity of your avatar to the constellations of blemishes and moles. Slap a scar down over, say, your right eye and your retina reddens with just the right corresponding streak of blood. Clothing is just as detailed, letting you create, for example, symbol designs that can run on your T-shirts and jeans-as well as your tattoos and license plates. Jones, an admitted car nut who bought his first Ferrari after making millions on Lemmings, has put as many modification tools into vehicle design, all the way down to the music you blast out of your window. This, of course, is the guy who brought us a host of radio stations to choose from in GTA, and APB goes even further-letting you both import and even create your own tunes. In high style, gamers can code or choose their own death theme music to push at other players when they get fragged. "When you kill someone, they have to hear your song," says Realtime Worlds Audio Director Roland Peddie, with an evil laugh. APB could very well spawn an entire subculture of gamers who futz around with the avatar creator like fans took to the creature creator in Spore. "Some players may just want to play the customization game," says Jones. "A lot of online games pick one rule set for 1000 players, but we can be flexible and reactive. So if players say, 'wouldn't it be great if we could do this in APB?' we can respond with, 'hey, we'll give that a try.'" -Dave Jones The third C of the game is Celebrity-an ego-stroking reward system designed to canonize accomplished criminals and Enforcers. Earn enough respect and APB erects statues in your likeness around the city. Newspapers even chronicle your exploits. "We're going to take a player's celebrity status and push it outside the game," says Realtime World's community lead, Chris Collins. This begs the question: How level will the playing field be? Won't hardcore gamers simply rule the scene? The answer is: Not quite, because the game recognizes players not only for kills but other skills, like designing graffitti and clothing. Despite all of APB's innovation, nagging questions remain. Most pressingly, perhaps, is how the game will make money. Though Realtime Worlds has yet to reveal the business model, Jones promises players won't have to commit to any kind of monthly subscription fee or utilize a traditional microtransaction system. Instead, Jones says he's trying to make the business model "as flexible as possible and as innovative as the game itself." Realtime Worlds doesn't rule out the possibility of a console version. "We believe this is the kind of game that will work really well on consoles," says Jones. "For me, the launch of APB is telling everybody we have the back-story broken down, and criminals are moving in as well, so make your clans, start to establish yourselves, and get ready, equipped, and tooled up, because some part of the game is going to change.'" This initial launch of San Paro is just the beginning of what will be a burgeoning APB universe. Jones sees it not just as a game but a platform-one that appears now but stays for years as new games and customizations evolve within the world. He describes this initial release as episode one. "For me an online game becomes like an online platform," says Jones, "and what you deliver into that is a tailored experience for subsets of the audience. The game we built may not work for everyone. We're finding ways to cater to every kind of audience, and technology is getting to the point where we can do that now." Realtime Worlds plans to rollout different rulesets and districts within the game based on player feedback. "A lot of online games pick one ruleset for 1,000 players, but we can be flexible and reactive," he says, "so if players say, 'Wouldn't it be great if we could do this in APB?' we can respond with, 'Hey, we'll give that a try.'" Jones talks of launching a Chaos district, for example, designed to let players wreak as much havoc as possible. As another long day of coding in Dundee comes to a close, Jones's other legacy is readily apparent: the tight-knit community of local game development companies (Denki, Cobra Mobile, Tag, Ruffian) that spawned from his first company, DMA. Dundee is now considered a hotbed of game design, with the government and universities supporting the scene. As the ultimate tribute to Jones's impact on the city, the local museum now features a display celebrating Jones's games, including original art from Lemmings. But Jones isn't resting on his pixelated laurels. Before he goes, he drops a clue about his next project, currently under wraps. "It's a completely online game, something I've been working on longer than APB, actually," he says. Just don't expect it to be an APB clone. "It's something completely different," he promises. Gamers expect nothing less.
Google search and keyboard?
<p>Anyone notice that Google now lets you use the keyboard to navigate through the search results? Try it. Search for something and press the down or up arrows on your keyboard.</p>
Video games: The skills from zapping 'em | The Economist
Video games
The skills from zapping 'em
Playing fast-action video games helps decision-making
Sep 16th 2010
At least he might be a better driver
THE relentless march of technology into everyday life has always given rise to debate about whether it is a good or a bad thing. Some believe that the internet and computer software are making humans more stupid or shallow. But others argue that computer programs in the form of video games can make people smarter or improve specific skills, such as spatial awareness. Indeed, an entire industry has emerged to help people “train” or improve their brains.
Video games: The skills from zapping 'em | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/node/17035943
The skills from zapping 'em
Playing fast-action video games helps decision-making
Sep 16th 2010
At least he might be a better driver
THE relentless march of technology into everyday life has always given rise to debate about whether it is a good or a bad thing. Some believe that the internet and computer software are making humans more stupid or shallow. But others argue that computer programs in the form of video games can make people smarter or improve specific skills, such as spatial awareness. Indeed, an entire industry has emerged to help people “train” or improve their brains.
Video games: The skills from zapping 'em | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/node/17035943
Monitor: Putting your money where your mouse is | The Economist
Putting your money where your mouse is
Crowdfunding: Artists, musicians and writers are using the internet to aggregate lots of small donations to fund their work
Sep 2nd 2010
WIKIPEDIA, a giant online encyclopedia compiled by volunteers, is the product of the aggregation of lots of people’s spare time. An example of “crowdsourcing”, it demonstrates that on the internet, as in the real world, many hands make light work. Can the same approach be applied to money as well as time? That is the idea behind “crowdfunding”, in which lots of small contributions are aggregated online to support artistic or creative ventures.
As crowdfunding has matured from a series of one-off efforts into something reproducible, the money has followed. Millions of dollars, in increments as small as $5, have poured into efforts that connect artists, musicians, writers and others with people willing to fund their projects. Venture capitalists have also shown an interest by investing in start-ups that facilitate crowdfunding.
There have of course been “tip jars” on web pages for years, and even big sites like Wikipedia ask for donations. But this approach works for a vanishingly small number of sites, and then only in conjunction with other sources of revenue. Crowdfunding is different, say its advocates. “It’s not a tip jar, and that’s what makes it sustainable,” says Perry Chen, the boss of Kickstarter, the largest of several start-ups that act as matchmakers between donors and projects.
Monitor: Putting your money where your mouse is | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/node/16909869
Crowdfunding: Artists, musicians and writers are using the internet to aggregate lots of small donations to fund their work
Sep 2nd 2010
WIKIPEDIA, a giant online encyclopedia compiled by volunteers, is the product of the aggregation of lots of people’s spare time. An example of “crowdsourcing”, it demonstrates that on the internet, as in the real world, many hands make light work. Can the same approach be applied to money as well as time? That is the idea behind “crowdfunding”, in which lots of small contributions are aggregated online to support artistic or creative ventures.
As crowdfunding has matured from a series of one-off efforts into something reproducible, the money has followed. Millions of dollars, in increments as small as $5, have poured into efforts that connect artists, musicians, writers and others with people willing to fund their projects. Venture capitalists have also shown an interest by investing in start-ups that facilitate crowdfunding.
There have of course been “tip jars” on web pages for years, and even big sites like Wikipedia ask for donations. But this approach works for a vanishingly small number of sites, and then only in conjunction with other sources of revenue. Crowdfunding is different, say its advocates. “It’s not a tip jar, and that’s what makes it sustainable,” says Perry Chen, the boss of Kickstarter, the largest of several start-ups that act as matchmakers between donors and projects.
Monitor: Putting your money where your mouse is | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/node/16909869
Rural broadband: Wiring Arcadia | The Economist
Rural broadband
Wiring Arcadia
The private sector is trying to bridge the “digital divide”
Sep 30th 2010 | From The Economist print edition
Struggling to order the internet shopping
GIVEN its reputation for surfing and the slow life, Cornwall has a surprisingly solid technological pedigree. It is where the transatlantic cables that carry much of Britain’s telephone and internet traffic land. Its Goonhilly satellite station is among the world’s biggest. And on September 30th, its council confirmed that, thanks to fibre-optic cables costing £132m (£78.5m from BT, the formerly state-run telephone monopoly, plus £53.5m in aid from the European Union), its residents will soon enjoy some of the fastest internet access in the country. Alas, other country-dwellers are less well-connected.
Despite Britain being the fifth-biggest broadband market in the OECD, a club of rich nations, a rump of about 11% of British homes remain too remote to receive the 2 megabit-per-second internet access the government thinks should be the minimum. The Euro-millions that will wire up Cornwall are available only because Cornwall is, by British standards, very poor.
Section 2 - the digital divide
Rural broadband: Wiring Arcadia | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=17151241&subjectID=348963&fsrc=nwl
Wiring Arcadia
The private sector is trying to bridge the “digital divide”
Sep 30th 2010 | From The Economist print edition
Struggling to order the internet shopping
GIVEN its reputation for surfing and the slow life, Cornwall has a surprisingly solid technological pedigree. It is where the transatlantic cables that carry much of Britain’s telephone and internet traffic land. Its Goonhilly satellite station is among the world’s biggest. And on September 30th, its council confirmed that, thanks to fibre-optic cables costing £132m (£78.5m from BT, the formerly state-run telephone monopoly, plus £53.5m in aid from the European Union), its residents will soon enjoy some of the fastest internet access in the country. Alas, other country-dwellers are less well-connected.
Despite Britain being the fifth-biggest broadband market in the OECD, a club of rich nations, a rump of about 11% of British homes remain too remote to receive the 2 megabit-per-second internet access the government thinks should be the minimum. The Euro-millions that will wire up Cornwall are available only because Cornwall is, by British standards, very poor.
Section 2 - the digital divide
Rural broadband: Wiring Arcadia | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=17151241&subjectID=348963&fsrc=nwl
Cyberwar: The meaning of Stuxnet | The Economist
Cyberwar
The meaning of Stuxnet
A sophisticated “cyber-missile” highlights the potential—and limitations—of cyberwar
1.2 life in the info age effects of ICT on society
Cyberwar: The meaning of Stuxnet | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=17147862&subjectID=348909&fsrc=nwl
The meaning of Stuxnet
A sophisticated “cyber-missile” highlights the potential—and limitations—of cyberwar
1.2 life in the info age effects of ICT on society
Cyberwar: The meaning of Stuxnet | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=17147862&subjectID=348909&fsrc=nwl
Thursday, 30 September 2010
YouTube web 2.0 talk
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DQss5RnD7wK8&v=Qss5RnD7wK8&gl=GB&bmb=1
via Byline
Interesting talk about how Apple is making the web important via the iphone.
Sent from my iPhone
via Byline
Interesting talk about how Apple is making the web important via the iphone.
Sent from my iPhone
FollowUpThen: Free, Fast and Simple Email Reminder
http://www.followupthen.com/how
FollowUpThen: Free, Fast and Simple Email Reminder
Use of ICT to help working styles
FollowUpThen: Free, Fast and Simple Email Reminder
Use of ICT to help working styles
Medical students given iPhone's for field work experience | ZDNet
Medical students given iPhone's for field work experience | ZDNet
Use of ICT in health, section 1.2
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Six Facebook, Twitter mistakes that can get you fired
Six Facebook, Twitter mistakes that can get you fired
http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=3dfdcf6543331722315fa160d5edca46
Shared via Pulse
http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=3dfdcf6543331722315fa160d5edca46
Shared via Pulse
Sent from my iPhone
Things to enhance your blog - creative extras
The following things can enhance and improve your marks, in fact for the higher mark boundary you will need these things:
- use of a questionnaire with charts and analysis of results (5-10 questions - ask 5-10 people)
- video/audio interviews
- screen movie of you using a website or service - use jing to capture
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Friday, 24 September 2010
Life in info age podcasts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/outriders/
You should kitten to some technology podcasts to get a feel for what is happening in the current Ict climate.
You should kitten to some technology podcasts to get a feel for what is happening in the current Ict climate.
Always learning | ZDNet
Education, for section 1.1 and 1.2
Perspectives on how we can learn in the 21st C.
Always learning | ZDNet
Perspectives on how we can learn in the 21st C.
Always learning | ZDNet
Google prevails in YouTube copyright case in Spain
Entertainment, section 1.1, 1.2
Sent to you by mh via Google Reader:
via Macworld by Juan Carlos Perez on 23/09/10
A Spanish court dismissed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against YouTube.Things you can do from here:
- Subscribe to Macworld using Google Reader
- Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favourite sites
Phishing Scams Focus on Workplace E-Mail, Not Twitter, Facebook: Survey - Security from eWeek
Phishing Scams Focus on Workplace E-Mail, Not Twitter, Facebook: Survey - Security from eWeek
This will be useful for unit 2 : the security report
The internet | Articles By Subject | Economist.com
The internet | Articles By Subject | Economist.com
Useful articles, about section 1.1 and section 1.2 (mainly they are for section 1.2!)
Schumpeter: The wiki way | The Economist
Schumpeter: The wiki way | The Economist
How the wiki phenomenon is changing life. Also how the internet has been used to aid the fight to improve civil rights.
Use for 1.2
Data privacy in Germany: No pixels, please, we're German | The Economist
Data privacy in Germany: No pixels, please, we're German | The Economist
This should be useful for 1.2 Life in the info age
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
CSS help pages on Adobe :
CSS help pages on Adobe :
Good example css to download: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/css_3c_tableless.html download the zip file in the top right corner and then extract the files to your user space or usb pen.
The files should now be in the css_3c_tableless[1] folder. Open the html file and examine the css at the top right hand side.
More complex resources if you want to find out more
More complex resources if you want to find out more
Info about layout of pages using CSS
http://www.apptools.com/examples/pagelayout101.php
Test website checkpoints:
Test website checkpoints:
Do links work?
Are there suitable pics?
Is the text suitable for the audience?
Is the layout sensible?
Does it cover 3 online services?
**Include suggestions for improvement.
Test out your work by putting it on a usb pen and use the test machine, all files used must be in the same folder, and you copy the entire folder to the usb pen.
Self assessment
You will then read their comments and write your own opinions about your work.
Then upload the word file (with both sets of comments) to fronter handin.
Show Mr H or M the website on the test machine.
Animation11: UK Schools Computer Animation Competition (School of Computer Science - The University of Manchester)
Open to you, and you could win a £500 voucher as a team, or a notebook computer as an individual.
Twitter internet worm attack hits thousands
Hi,
I saw this and thought you should see it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/sep/21/twitter-internet-worm-hacking-attack
Sent via the Guardian's iPhone application.
Get it Here
I saw this and thought you should see it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/sep/21/twitter-internet-worm-hacking-attack
Sent via the Guardian's iPhone application.
Get it Here
Sent from my iPhone
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
CSS and GRAPHICS tips
CSS lets you define types of text and other elements on your pages.
This means you can change the CSS file setting and whole pages will automatically change.
You need to create a CSS file. - file, new, css style sheet then choose a starting point.
Then create a html file, then click in properties section on style, and choose attach style sheet.
Then you can edit the style sheet with your own custom settings, eg Title: you can set the font, the colour, size etc.
This means you can define any element of a page and link it to the CSS.
Right click in the CSS area on the top right, and choose new, then choose, class, then write in the name for the class (eg title) this will appear in the style section once you have done this.
You can then highlight text and then choose the style of text in the style box.
NEXT save the page you have created as Template. This can then be resaved under different names to give you a copy of your page. You would want to set up the layout and standard links on this page, so that you don't need to redo this each time.
See this video for ideas :
FINALLY:
Whilst you can do the ebook without using CSS it would take more time and be very fiddly to update the settings across up to 20-30 pages eg. changing font size and colour on every page.
GRAPHICS:
You can use flash buttons for links to other pages, I would recommend that you use this with caution as errors can occur if you don't save the files in the right places. It introduces complexity = more that can go wrong.
My recommendation is to use Powerpoint word art , then right click and save as picture, then use the picture file for the link.
This means you can change the CSS file setting and whole pages will automatically change.
You need to create a CSS file. - file, new, css style sheet then choose a starting point.
Then create a html file, then click in properties section on style, and choose attach style sheet.
Then you can edit the style sheet with your own custom settings, eg Title: you can set the font, the colour, size etc.
This means you can define any element of a page and link it to the CSS.
Right click in the CSS area on the top right, and choose new, then choose, class, then write in the name for the class (eg title) this will appear in the style section once you have done this.
You can then highlight text and then choose the style of text in the style box.
NEXT save the page you have created as Template. This can then be resaved under different names to give you a copy of your page. You would want to set up the layout and standard links on this page, so that you don't need to redo this each time.
FINALLY:
Whilst you can do the ebook without using CSS it would take more time and be very fiddly to update the settings across up to 20-30 pages eg. changing font size and colour on every page.
GRAPHICS:
You can use flash buttons for links to other pages, I would recommend that you use this with caution as errors can occur if you don't save the files in the right places. It introduces complexity = more that can go wrong.
My recommendation is to use Powerpoint word art , then right click and save as picture, then use the picture file for the link.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)