Skyhook Wireless, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Big Brother

Posted by on Jan 16, 2008 in Privacy | 5 comments

Interesting takeaway from Macworld today:

Skyhook Wireless has driven around the US and Canada, mapping 23 million Wi-Fi hot spots to a GPS. Even if you’re not connected to the hot spot, the beacon service knows which hot spots you’re near, so when you use the Maps application on the iPod Touch or iPhone, you still get location data.

Neat, huh? Cool, huh? as Steve Jobs said.

Wireless is bidirectional.

You know what hot spots are near, and Skyhook’s service can triangulate on that.

The hot spots know you’re near. When you turn on your Wi-Fi enabled device, the grid knows where YOU are. All the time. As soon as that Wi-Fi laptop, iPod, iPhone, or other device powers on and starts looking for access points.

Food for thought.

MacWorld takeaways for podcasters & new media

Posted by on Jan 15, 2008 in Uncategorized | 6 comments

A few initial thoughts…

1. The MacBook Air is a lovely product, designed for the road warrior. I foresee great uses for it for conferences and things, but it’s not going to be a media machine. 80 GB will go awfully fast. 1 USB port and no Firewire are also inhibitors. Look for Multi-touch features on future MacBooks and MacBook Pros if you want the cool stuff – I’d bet WWDC.

iPod Touch Lyrics2. The iPod Touch and iPhone have lyrics restored – so if you’re a podcaster, be sure you’re copying and pasting your show notes into the lyrics tab for all the world to see as a self contained show.

3. iTunes continues to be the venue of choice, unsurprisingly, for Apple devices. If your podcast isn’t in iTunes, it’s not in any of Apple’s stuff.

That’s the immediate takeaways for new media producers.

Failing marks for live social media at MacWorld

Posted by on Jan 15, 2008 in New media, Social networks, Twitter, Video | 4 comments

Failing marks for live social media at MacWorld

MacWorld 2008 brought lots of anticipation and excitement to the new media world. New devices, new toys, etc. What it didn’t bring was new infrastructure to popular net-based services like uStream.tv and Twitter, both of which suffered badly under load, in some cases becoming inoperable.

Here’s the scary thought. Twitter buckled under load. uStream buckled under load. Back during Katrina, there was talk about how the Internet could act as a channel during a crisis, helping keep people connected when other options failed. Based on the performance of two presence/real-time applications today, with a known, planned event, I wouldn’t put these applications in your emergency first aid kit as dependable.

Why Social Media and New Media Can Be Mentally Damaging

Posted by on Jan 13, 2008 in New media | 2 comments

Why Social Media and New Media Can Be Mentally Damaging

In a recent discussion with my teacher, Mr. Mark Davis, one of the topics that came up was how we remember things. At one point, the conversation turned to social media and new media, and how new media can be incredibly damaging to our perceptive abilities for one reason: we always assume there’s a replay.

Think about it. Missed a point in that audiobook? No big deal, just shuffle back some. Didn’t see a play in the game? Instant replay will beat it to death for you. Couldn’t go to a conference? It’s on YouTube. Even if you were there, if you weren’t paying attention and were just chatting, the conference DVD or podcast will have what you missed.

The key point is that we become more mentally unfit every time we outsource our ability to perceive and remember. We become so accustomed to being able to download a copy or stream a video that our faculties for capturing a moment in our minds diminish.

Why does this matter? It only matters if you find yourself in situations, in moments in life, when nobody and no device is recording. Chances are you’re not already recording when a child takes a first step or says a parent’s name for the first time. Chances are you’re not already recording when a master teacher demonstrates a technique just once. Chances are you’re not already recording when a singular event happens on the street nearby. Oh, lots of people will likely be able to get various devices up and running quickly, but your mind is the only always-on, always-recording device that’s instantly ready to go – if you train it to be.

Is new media bad? Of course not. But it does have consequences.

How do you counteract the degradation of human faculties in an ever-increasingly wired world? Cultivate them. Give yourself exercises to practice. For example, look at a picture of a crowded street for a few seconds, then try to recall as many things as possible from the scene from memory. Listen to a melody or conversation just once and reproduce what you can. In these ways and many more, you can give your brain the mental fitness it needs to capture the moments of your life as you live them, instead of lamenting a device’s boot up time.

A Choice with Grief

Posted by on Jan 9, 2008 in Twitter | 4 comments

A Choice with Grief

You have a choice with grief that results from loss, from death. On the one hand, you can choose to let it consume you, to let it haunt you, sapping your vitality away, until all that is left is a mere shell of what once was a human being. This was the fate of my grandmother after her husband of 50 years died. She lingered on for years after, but her heart and soul died with her husband, and her body just needed to catch up.

On the other hand, you can transmute grief. You can transform it into raw motivation, motivation to do great things, accomplish great works, help as many people as you can, in the name of the person you’ve lost, until their name outshines the grief, banishing the darkness with the light you dedicate to them. Your grief can be fuel for the fires of creation, solution, and that grief can change the world, make it a better place for all who survive the one who was lost.

How will you honor the ones you’ve lost?

Seems I lost my my status quo.
I looked up one day, you were pulled away
now I ain’t got much to show.
Where you’ve gone to I don’t know,
But I can love you.

And if you love me I can hold on tight,
and if you love me I won’t fall off this ride.
And if you love me I can go anywhere.

So I will wait for you I swear.
The night feels like it’s unending,
but I don’t care.
And I will wait for you I swear.
The sun’s coming up in the morning
and I’ll be there.

Every step just makes me tired.
Every answer brings more questions.
Though I try to feel inspired,
I can’t change the way I’m wired,
but I can love you.

And if you love me you can heal my scars.
and if you love me I’ll move to the stars.
And if you love me I can bend but I won’t tear.

When it’s done we’re not alone–
the door opens on its own
and we will come home.

- Matthew Ebel

Dedicated to Ashley Spencer’s kids.