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June 29, 2005
Google Earth
Remember John's demo last year?
Now it's Google Earth.
Posted by Xiao at 09:04 PM
June 26, 2005
Shirky: Ontology is Overrated -- Categories, Links, and Tags
Today I want to talk about categorization, and I want to convince you that a lot of what we think we know about categorization is wrong. In particular, I want to convince you that many of the ways we're attempting to apply categorization to the electronic world are actually a bad fit, because we've adopted habits of mind that are left over from earlier strategies.
I also want to convince you that what we're seeing when we see the Web is actually a radical break with previous categorization strategies, rather than an extension of them. The second part of the talk is more speculative, because it is often the case that old systems get broken before people know what's going to take their place. (Anyone watching the music industry can see this at work today.) That's what I think is happening with categorization.
What I think is coming instead are much more organic ways of organizing information than our current categorization schemes allow, based on two units -- the link, which can point to anything, and the tag, which is a way of attaching labels to links. The strategy of tagging -- free-form labeling, without regard to categorical constraints -- seems like a recipe for disaster, but as the Web has shown us, you can extract a surprising amount of value from big messy data sets.
Posted by Xiao at 09:45 AM
June 23, 2005
The Culture of Connectivity and Immediacy
Opportunity abounds, faster than ever, to a greater panoply of users. A generation is coming that never knew life without PCs, cellular phones, TiVo and file access. A generation that can IM for hours, talk on cell phones and play interactive games with people all across the globe.
The bottom line is that technical and connected life becomes a bigger aspect of society, but that human interaction on a face-to-face basis cannot be replicated. We do not have Star Trek-like machines breaking down our molecules in order to transport us. We do have all sorts of virtual travel and interaction. Fax machines and scanners have nearly eliminated the need for parties signing contracts to be in the same place at the same time.
Human interaction will not change. Seeing someone in person at the same place will still be more tangible and sensual an experience than IMing, calling on a cellular/landline/VoIP phone, playing a game or sending an e-mail. What many may now consider virtual or abstract may, to coming generations of users of technology, be considered the norm, a regular day-to-day activity or event.
Posted by Xiao at 09:36 PM
June 22, 2005
Getting Smart About Disasters
Dr. Gonzalez, noting the incredible utility of Wikipedia as an information resource in the hours and days after the December 26 tsunami, decided on June 1 to start making Wikipedia even more valuable in the case of an Avian flu breakout. He has added sections to the Wikipedia entry on Avian flu covering preparedness plans, strategies for slowing or stopping a pandemic, and (most interestingly) "Stages of a Pandemic," a World Health Organization rating system for where the world stands, disease-wise.
Posted by Xiao at 07:07 PM
June 21, 2005
音乐，死者
Summer Solstice/Garden of Memory Concert at Chapel of the Chimes
And more.
Posted by Xiao at 10:02 PM
June 20, 2005
Mendocino
野花，海水
以及
森林里的光
Posted by Xiao at 10:39 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2005
Cool uses of Google Maps
In between
shaky
WiFi signals in Tomate
Tips to Google
came on
your screen
Thanks to Ben for more hacking tips :
Jon Udell has a smart piece talking about why he likes Google Maps
Lever and Fulcrum
Census Data on Google Maps
Google Map Hacks - Collection 1
Google Maps Hacking and Bookmarklets
More on Google Maps hacking
Google Maps Plugin for Apple address book.
Posted by Xiao at 03:38 PM
June 16, 2005
Hi, Trieste
"It is well lighted
...... there are shadows of the leaves."
Posted by Xiao at 04:45 AM
June 11, 2005
McLuhan's Tetrad
Todd Kappelman wrote: The tetrad allowed McLuhan to apply four laws, framed as questions, to a wide spectrum of mankind's endeavors, and thereby give us a new tool for looking at our culture.
The first of these questions or laws is "What does it (the medium or technology) extend?" In the case of a car it would be the foot, in the case a phone it would be the voice. The second question is "What does it make obsolete?" Again, one might answer that the car makes walking obsolete, and the phone makes smoke signals and carrier pigeons unnecessary. The third question asks, "What is retrieved?" The sense of adventure or quest is retrieved with the car, and the sense of community returns with the spread of telephone service. One might consider the rise of the cross-country vacation that accompanied the spread of automobile ownership. The fourth question asks, "What does the technology reverse into if it is over-extended?" An over-extended automobile culture longs for the pedestrian lifestyle, and the over-extension of phone culture engenders a need for solitude.
Posted by Xiao at 11:27 PM
Castells' Trinity Formula
At least three layers of material supports that, together, constitute the space of flows:
(1) Medium - the physical basis of virtual communication: the hardware and software, the technology that has to be deployed in order for the network to function at all.
(2) Physical Location: the geography of its "nodes and hubs ...... the network links up specific places, with well-defined social, cultural, physical and functional characteristics.
(3) Eden-Olympia (J. G. Ballard's novel): the rarefied, homogeneous space in which the global financial and political elite lives, works and travels.
According to Castells, "the elites form their own society, and constitute symbolically secluded communities." This is because "the more a society is democratic in its institutions, the more the elites have to become clearly distinct from the populace, so avoiding the excessive penetration of political representatives into the inner world of strategic decision-making."
Posted by Xiao at 10:51 PM
June 09, 2005
The Power Of P2P
You have always appreciated the book given by Greg. Now reading this article sent by Howard, the instinct you had three and half years ago was correct.
How can a tiny European upstart like Skype Technologies S.A. do a number on a trillion-dollar industry? By dialing up a vast, hidden resource: its own users. Skype, the newest creation from the same folks whose popular file-sharing software Kazaa freaked out record execs, also lets people share their resources -- legally. When users fire up Skype, they automatically allow their spare computing power and Net connections to be borrowed by the Skype network, which uses that collective resource to route others' calls. The result: a self-sustaining phone system that requires no central capital investment -- just the willingness of its users to share.
(How will they respond to the power of P2P this time? )
Posted by Xiao at 09:46 PM
June 06, 2005
Sunny Afternoon in the MiniPark
黑皮肤的
姐弟
让你猜测
是来自比利时
还是
巴黎
Posted by Xiao at 02:36 PM