Networks
The Internet in numbers
(via Flowing Data) There are some surprising figures here: JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo. Enjoy!
Facebook
Looking at Facebook’s news feed patent
Last week several news sources reported on the publication of a patent on news feeds granted to Facebook, but I didn’t want to comment until I had read it in full. Behold US Patent 7,669,123, protecting a system that dynamically provides “a news feed about a user of a social Read more
Open source
Stallman will not sign Public Domain Manifesto
As mentioned earlier, the COMMUNIA European thematic network for the public domain released the aptly named Public Domain Manifesto some weeks ago. This is an important, valuable, and vital document that enshrines some of the most basic principles in the protection and safekeeping of a public sphere in copyright works. Read more
Blogging
Back in business!
[Warning, uninteresting details about the inner life of a blog to follow] Habitual readers may have noticed that the site was down for just over two days. Having a hosted WordPress site allows one the freedom to configure a blog in ways that some ready-made services such as Blogger simply Read more
Feeling silly
The Internet? It will never work!
Ah, 1995, the early days of the Internet. Windows 95. The Clinton era. Apollo 13. The Unabomber Manifesto. And in Newsweek, a columnist says that the Internet is all hype. He said: “But today, I’m uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, Read more
Globalisation
Encouraging open source could land you in trouble
Just when I am feeling like some people in the copyright industry are getting their act together, there are news that make me rethink my patient and measured approach to the issue of global intellectual property. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has submitted this year’s Special 301 recommendation list Read more
Popular Culture
Music industry shoots itself in the foot… again
Back in 2007 I wrote about a YouTube phenomenon called Ok Go. This is a Geek Rock band from Chicago which became prominent after the music videos for two of their songs (Here It Goes Again and Million Ways) went viral. I loved their quirky lack of self-consciousness, and the Read more
Litigation
Defamation online revisited
I have been reading an article in the Chicago Tribune about online anonymity. Most of the story is centred around the defamation dispute between Lisa Stone and an anonymous individual going by the handle Hipcheck16 (see legal documents here). Lisa Stone was running for local office in an Illinois suburb Read more
Reviews
Attack of the techno-sceptics, part deux
Technophobia, Luddism and techno-scepticism are topics close to my heart. I have heard about Jaron Nanier’s You Are Not a Gadget, but I have not read it yet. That is why I want to point people towards this excellent review by the Technology Liberation Front (one of my new favourites). Read more
Cybercrime
The day Facebook vanished
How do you get to your favourite pages? This may seem like a deceivingly simple question. In my case, I have my most used pages in my Firefox toolbar, and while I have a very extensive collection of Bookmarks, I tend not to use them that often. Instead, like most Read more