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This week:
Wireless in Philadelphia
For about US$10 million, Philadelphia
could become the world's largest wireless Internet hot spot. Transmitters
would be placed atop lamp-posts, delivering wireless broadband across
the city's 135 square miles.
via flite | 2 September 2004 | top of page
Creepy, spooky, scary
Explore the 99 rooms:
beautiful, creepy and occasionally scary. (requires Flash/Shockwave and
sound) (thanks, Claire)
Teddy-bear snuff movies
are not for the soft-hearted. (via BoingBoing)
JD Smith wants to show you his collection of fecal
tongs. For more in this vein, the Museum
of Hoaxes has more gross stuff than you can poke a body part at. There's
lots of tongs at the Tong
Wiki. (thanks, Trevor)
2 September 2004 | top of page
Asking the big questions
Could
a single dark matter particle be light-years wide?
Fifty years ago Hendrik Casimir was trying to understand why mayonnaise
moves so slowly. He ended up discovering that space itself generates a
force, and these days evidence is accumulating that most of the energy
in the universe is 'dark energy'. You can see
the Casimir Effect with an atomic force microscope.
Many people living in the southern hemisphere have never
seen a false dawn. Now you can, with explanatory notes.
New research indicates that chronic
drug use changes in the structure and function of the brain's neurons,
and the changes can last for weeks, months or years after the last fix.
"These adaptations, perversely, dampen the pleasurable effects...
yet also increase the cravings..."
1 September 2004 | top of page
.edu
A qualification
is a qualification, not the meaning of life. The British government
insists that high-school graduates are "magically getting brighter",
based on ever-increasing pass numbers in the A-level exams. The obvious
riposte is that kids aren't necessarily getting brighter--instead, the
exams are getting easier.
This year Georgetown University in Washington DC is using a computer-based
matching system for assigning dormitory room-mates. With anonymous
messaging and common-interest search tools, the system resembles popular
dating web sites.
In the USA the university ratings season is starting. "As part of
the ritual, college president associations send press releases every year
to education reporters... saying how hideous these rankings are and reminding
us that each of their campuses in special in its own way. Most of us who
write about college admissions share the view that the rankings
are tacky and unscientific, although that doesn't stop us from referring
to them often in our stories." Nevertheless, comparing rankings over
a period of years reveals something new: "A Harvard degree isn't
the status symbol it used to be... and that goes for Yale and Princeton
too."
Government officials "are touting the success of the 1-year-old
Web-based
system that tracks foreign students at US universities and colleges
and has led to 187 arrests for various violations." Students who
commute daily
across the US-Mexico border to attend classes also face increased
security checks.
"First, computers learned to beat people at chess, then they started
answering 411 [directory assistance] calls. Now, computers endowed with
artificial intelligence are going where only teachers ventured before:
they're
grading essays." One day, they may even become good at it.
"Arts
faculty subjects at Monash University will be cut by 20 per cent during
the next two years, with the university claiming the move will rationalise
the faculty and increase its research output."
The universities quality
agency praised the University of South Australia for its "culture
of innovation" and ability "to accommodate change without
being afraid of it". The UniSA audit also highlights academic staff
concerns over increasing workloads.
How to get ahead in business: if you're planning something a bit risky,
somewhat expensive and with potential to damage the organisation's reputation
if it fails, then remember
to tell the boss before you actually do it. That way, you won't be
escorted off the premises by security guards, as happened this week at
the University of Southern Queensland.
Every second year, the
president (vice-chancellor) of the University of Georgia teaches a first-year
politics class. It's part of an initiative to offer small classes
of less than 20 to new students, and it also keeps senior academics in
touch with the student population.
Three Massachusetts
state colleges will require students to own laptops this year. By
2009, around 30,000 students will be using portable computers on campus.
1 September 2004 | top of page
Usability and design
How
to draw a useful site diagram: "...keep an open mind and to be
creative. The ultimate goal is to produce a diagram that accurately describes
either what has been created or what is yet to be created, and do so in
a manner easily grasped by various stakeholder groups."
Put this on your wishlist for Santa: a fishtank
toilet cistern. (thanks, Paul and Justina)
Comparison shopping: iPod
versus compact cassette. (thanks, Fraser)
This user
profiling and testing toolkit will help you understand what your customers
want when they visit your web site or contact your organisation.
A blob of plasticine endlessly
divides and mutliplies, then combines and reforms. It's like a web
version of a Sesame Street animation. (requires Flash) (thanks, Michael)
31 August 2004 | top of page
Your eye in the sky
Enter a latitude and longitude, then click 'update' to see the view
of your house from space. For example, Melbourne
is 37°47' south, 144°58' east. Bewdiful. Use the same
site to view the Moon.
31 August 2004 | top of page
Operations research
Eric B Hansen's 1992 treatise "On
Drying of Laundry" holds a treasured place in the collections and
hearts of countless mathematicians, engineers, and persons of the
cloth.
Important safety tip: farmers
should beware when entering manure pits.
The world's vast collection of research journals contain many reports
about positive results that turn out, later, to be simply not so. The
Journal of Negative Results and
the Journal of Articles in Support of
the Null Hypothesis try to keep track of these reports. (via the Annals
of Improbable Research)
Lots of research papers from Bell Labs staff who are trying to measure,
describe and predict Internet traffic.
31 August 2004 | top of page
Dear Abby
Email addicts
and the people who love them.
You need a collection of skills and people to make your intranet work
well as a knowledge management and communication tool. Here's
a summary; for an external-facing web site, you'd add a marketing/public
affairs specialist.
You're an IT tech, you're around 40 years old. You don't necessarily
have to become a manager in order to continue having a fulfilling, well-paid
career. Here's how
to avoid the manager trap and keep working on stuff you love.
If you do choose the management career path, make sure you understand
when to manage
and when to lead.
How to manage
workplace conflict: finding a balance of creativity and stability
for an IT team can help turn conflict into more productive working relationships.
How to get
money to upgrade your organisation's IT hardware: communicate and
persevere.
Productive
mentoring relationships require proper planning; agreement on goals,
objectives, and expected outcomes; and proper follow-through on agreements
and promises made by both the mentor and person being mentored.
30 August 2004 | top of page
Sales figures
People
who own more DVDs also rent more DVDs--and more VHS videos too.
via Fast
Company
Ten years ago the US Government decided to stop
subsidising the student loan industry. Today, lenders are billing
the government nearly US$1 billion a year, four times the amount they
charged three years ago, exploiting a legal loophole that guarantees the
lenders big profits at taxpayer expense. <rhetorical> Wouldn't it
be smarter for the government to pay the money directly to universities?
</rhetorical>
(Username for the New York Times link = flipsock, password = sneedle)
How Google keeps innovating:
Most Fridays at Google, ... Marissa Mayer and about 50 engineers and
other employees sit down to do a search of their own. Mayer, an intense,
fast-talking product manager, scribbles rapidly as the engineers race
to explain and defend the new ideas that they've posted to an internal
Web site. By
the end of the hour-long meeting, six, seven, or sometimes even eight
new ideas are fleshed out enough to take to the next level of development.
Some of those ideas might become new features on Google, new code or
search algorithms, or a new way to juice up the Google home page.
... The sessions are kept to one hour, and individual presenters never
get more than 10 minutes. But everyone knows that the conversation won't
end when the meeting does. Promising ideas are quickly outlined on the
intranet site. Usually, the person who came up with the idea is put
in charge of turning it into a feature. "I never have to hammer
on people," says Rosenberg. "They showcase their ideas and
then move on them."
30 August 2004 | top of page
Boobs have brains too
Murdoch's topless page-three
girls have a strong political consciousness, apparently.
On 22 July Anna (22, from London) asked:
"Why has it taken so long to bring out a 22-page pamphlet on basic
planning for emergencies like keeping a supply of batteries, food and
water? This should have been rushed out after 9/11."
On 22 March, Melanie (22, from Watford) was concerned about government
waste:
"To think that £20billion of taxpayers' money can be squandered
on red tape is horrifying. Our schools and hospitals desperately need
that money, not a bunch of bureaucrats. It's got to be tightened up
to make sure our taxes reach frontline services."
Other topless 'models' have commented on teenage pregnancy and drunkenness,
the fantastic work of British soldiers in Iraq, the retirement of Colonel
Tim Collins and other weighty matters of state. Oh, and the size of Enrique
Iglesias's willy.
via BoingBoing
| 30 August 2004 | top of page
Shifting centre
"[A]n informal,
'top-of-the-world' cultural confederation is forming; knitting Vladivostock,
Sapporo, Vancouver, Rekyjavik, Helsinki and Beijing, and points between,
somehow." Will the new axis of world leadership be closer to the
Arctic Circle than to the equator?
30 August 2004 | top of page
Technology
"IT
alone has never delivered value or competitive advantage. It's the
combination of technology and innovation that helps companies outpace
rivals."
DIY hamster-powered
nightlight. (via BoingBoing)
Tell a GPS-enabled
artificial intelligence system where you've been for a month and it'll
guess where you're going next. It will also detect strange behavior.
Five postcards
from the bleeding edge of technology: smart tags that track products
through their production and distribution networks; bio-simulation software
to hasten drug development; a printer that produces 3D plastic models;
distributed renewable-power generation; and autonomic computers that configure
themselves, balance intense workloads, and know how to predict and address
problems before they happen.
Why libraries
should not use RFID tags in books: "Library books should remain
a private partner in a relationship of exploration and learning with the
borrower. RFID tags give library books something they don't need: a transmitter
that can become a blabbermouth."
"The
central myth of content management is that it can free non-technical content
owners from the constraints of IT." You don't need to buy a single,
expensive system to manage all your content; instead, "consider a
media and entertainment conglomerate with many brands, lines of business,
divisions, etc. Using the federated approach, employees can discover and
repurpose content from multiple sources: images stored in Canto, videos
managed in an IBM system, product content living in Stellent, and reuse
rights living in a custom database.
27 August 2004 | top of page
Criminology
A UCLA political science professor has reviewed "what he calls 'easily
available evidence' relating to the historic use of chemical and biological
weapons. He found something surprising--such
weapons do not cause mass destruction."
Three cases from Pinkerton's
1873 casebook: a corpse in a bank, fraud on the railroads, and a mysterious
drowning.
Researchers at the University of NSW say people
who are in good moods tend to have unreliable memories, making them
useless as witnesses to crime. (via BoingBoing)
27 August 2004 | top of page
Fiction
Planet
of the Apes as a Twilight Zone episode: Rod Serling narration, ad
breaks, the lot.
When Ms Calendar told Giles she'd spent the summer at Burning Man, I
had no idea what she meant. Now
I have a better idea, though the organisers say that "to
truly understand this event, one must participate." *sigh* Another
one for the Round Tuit list.
"This is Allehe reporting live from a staged protest outside Theed
Starport. Just
a few moments ago protesting cartoons went suddenly missing--warped outside
our great galaxy. Where have they landed? This we do not know. What
we do know is people are angry... and showing their support in banning
CREDIT Dupers... also known as cheaters. It appears the Great SOE GODS
are favoring the cheaters over the fair and honest gameplayers. I will
remain here until there is no news. This is Allehe reporting live from
Theed Spaceport, Naboo, Intrepid. Back to you Dan."
From the current issue of Popular Science:
"[M]odern science fiction is facing a crisis of confidence. The
recent crop of stories mostly take the form of fantasy..., alternate
history... and space operas about interstellar civilizations in the
year 12,000... Only a small
cadre of technoprophets is attempting to extrapolate current trends
and imagine what our world might look like in the next few decades.
'We’re staring into a fogbank,' Stross says, 'and we literally
do not know where we’re going, only that we’re going there
very fast.'"
27 August 2004 | top of page
Lifestyle choices
"The Face" magazine never enjoyed huge sales, but when it championed
a look, a book, a film or a band, people took notice. "To buy into
The Face was to identify with a more glamorous and materially aspirational
life than your own... In recent years, however, there's a belief that
maybe
even the Good Life isn't such a desirable goal."
American Republican Rob Long observes that "the sad truth is, the
real difference between Democrats and Republicans is that their celebrities
are, like, actually famous and ours are, well, singing
weirdly erotic songs about Our Savior."
27 August 2004 | top of page
Management
How
to keep the perfect employee from committing the perfect mistake:
reflect, critique and challenge.
No matter how poorly you run a brainstorming meeting, some
decent ideas will surface. The important thing is what you do *after*
the meeting.
27 August 2004 | top of page
Rights
JibJab made a parody video
of Woody Guthrie's song "This Land is Your Land", starring
George W Bush and other American politicians. It was a big hit on the
'net, and a company that had bought and renewed Guthrie's intellectual
property rights sent in the lawyers.
Now it turns out the evergreened rights don't actually belong to the
company. Cory Doctorow comments: "If
they'd just kept their lawyers in their pants, they'd still be sitting
pretty."
27 August 2004 | top of page
Web and 'net
URLinfo queries lots
of different data sources and search engines to find information about
your web page. Type in a URL and use the tabs across the top of the screen
to see which search engines are linking to your page, get a Wave accessibility
report, analyse your keywords, and do lots
of other nifty things.
Gmail
and usability.
Eight
quick ways to improve your search engine's usability.
Email
marketers are worried about Google's Gmail service: what's the point
of spamming Gmail users if Gmail already serves up Google-brokered advertising?
At Purdue University scientists used images
from a scanning electron microscope to make a movie of the T4 virus altering
its shape to attack an E. coli bacterium. Says Michael G Rossman,
"A better understanding of the infection process is a step forward
for fundamental science, but it also could allow scientists to alter the
baseplate so that the virus could infect cells other than E. coli. T4
might then be used to deliver beneficial genes to damaged or infected
human tissue."
27 August 2004 | top of page
She goes, she goes... she just goes (eventually)
Strewth! Ruth
Dunkin resigned as Vice-Chancellor of RMIT University. To the last,
she remained true to her view that a
CEO can't be expected to have all the answers all the time, and that
senior managers must collectively share responsibility for an organisation's
success--and failures. And let's not forget that, in Dunkin's four years
as vice-chancellor, RMIT's "research performance has improved greatly,
and it has doubled its publication output and its research income."
In other .edu news this week:
27 August 2004 | top of page
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