Archive for the ‘Technology’ tag
Monetizing the Crowd
This is part two of a multi-part series on the next generation of internet communications. In this article, I will be exploring the problems with internet business models.
Unless you are a multi-national bank, there is something seriously wrong with having a business model that does not produce any income. Running a business or organization requires money and, although profit is not always the motive, some form of revenue is important for sustaining almost any endeavor.
The exception to this rule is, of course, the internet. Throughout its commercial history, profit has been an sufficient, but not necessary, condition to the perpetuation of cyberspace.
The Fatal Shortcoming of Social Media
This is part one of a multi-part commentary on the next generation of internet communications. In this article, I will be exploring the problem of the “walled garden” and closed communications systems.
Twitter. Facebook. MySpace. What do all these systems have in common? They all use isolated, closed servers.
France: No exclusive iPhone deals
A French appellate court has upheld a decision prohibiting Apple and telco provider Orange from entering into a five-year exclusive deal.
[From iPhone : la justice confirme la suspension d'exclusivité d'Orange - Economie - Le Monde.fr]
Les différents types de cyberattaques
A fun infographic from the French newspaper Le Monde describing the different types of computer malware.
O Hai
I love that flickr is so friendly.
E-government wasteland
The Economist magazine has a write-up on “e-government”, or technologically sophisticated government bureaucracy. The focal point: the District of Columbia.
While the Economist may be taken by governments that spend less by using Google (a huge privacy problem, if you ask me) instead of Microsoft and iPhones instead of police-band radio (making two parties — DC and AT&T — immune to suit in the event of a communications breakdown instead of one) does not seem like the best of long-term decisions.
Further, the service provided online by are not the utopia that the Economist suggests. While it is much simpler now to renew a driver’s license in the District, you are still dependent upon a corrupt, slow-moving bureaucracy to actually perform those services.
And to say that the police are not corrupt anymore is not to have lived here.
I’m happy to see that dc.gov is moving more services online and away from the crowded offices; I just wish that they would do
It’s Finally Coming!
Will Wright, the genius behind SimCity and its progeny, has done it again. This time, the focus is on creativity and design.
EA announced yesterday that Spore will be available 7 Sep 08, still a bit of a way off, but soon enough to start salivating. The game has been a multi-year project, and many thought that it would never come at all.
According to Wired magazine, EA will release the “creature creator” portion of the game a few months beforehand, so players can begin to familiarize themselves with the design element of the game; EA is also releasing the program to players so they can “jump straight into the game”.
Spore will be released for PC and Mac (hooray!), as well as limited function versions for the Nintendo DS and mobile phones.
Linked below is a short walkthrough gallery, presented by Wired.
Apple will allow third-party applications for iPhone
According to the Internation Herald Tribune, Apple has announced that it will open up the iPhone to 3rd party application developers.
Who didn’t know this was coming?
[From Apple will allow third-party applications for iPhone - International Herald Tribune]
