Gory video games claim freedom of expression protection
March 18, 2008
The Boston mayor moves to ban the sale of gory video games to teenagers, while the games’ advocates claim protection under First Amendment, Boston Herald reports.
The cities of Boston and neighboring Brockton face high rates of teenage street violence edging up to an increased number of murders. Despite unfavorable precedents, the authorities aim to halt the sale of violet games to teens, which, they claim, might be adding to the overall street crime.
Teen video gamers and industry react angrily against a possible ruling. They say it is up to parents to decide whether teens should play Grand Theft Auto, for example, and not up to authorities.
In a precedent judgment, Judge James Brady, of Louisiana, said video games are “as much entitled to the protection of free speech as the best of literature.”
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iPhone users to suffer consequences of Apple’s discontent with Flash
March 5, 2008
Apple seems to leave out Adobe’s Flash application at its upcoming iPhone software presentation, writes Dan Frommer in a Silicon Alley Insider story. He brings about a report by Dow Jones which quotes Steve Jobs saying that “Adobe hasn’t created a version of Flash that’s suitable for the iPhone.”
Dropping a flash application in iPhone software suit would mean that “iPhone users [will] have to settle for a less-complete version of the Web,” Frommer writes, unless Apple finds a substitute.
Yet, some users see the time for mobile Flash “battery-sucking ad banners” far-fetched. “It is in Apple’s DNA to only go with good technology,” a reader comments, referring to an alternative to Adobe’s Flash, Microsoft’s Silverlight, “not to compromise user’s experience. Having said that, I’m in no hurry for Flash, either. CPU (and battery)-sucking banner ads? No thanks,” the comment reads.
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Google revives wiki web publishing - more user-friendly and less customizable
March 4, 2008
Google continues to expand its Apps, adding a team web publishing tool to the bulk. Google had acquired JotSpot wiki service back in October 2006, and now, after 16 months, launched it as a new Google App, naming it Google Sites.
Michael Arrington writes on techcrunch.com “Google Sites looks absolutely nothing like Jotspot, other than the fact that both are hosted wikis. All of the structured data templates launched by Jotspot in July 2006 have been stripped out.”
The new Google App added user-friendliness but took away from functionality, lacking an application program interface (API), and having limited backward scalability, writes Juan Carlos Peres on arnnet.com.au, summarizing the mixed feelings incumbent Jotspot users have voiced.
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Flow-based search architecture promises flawless
February 24, 2008
Bill Burnham, an early beta-tester of a, what he calls, flow-based search engine, predicts bright future for SkyGrid and even its ability to predict it; the future, that is.
Mr. Burnham writes on alwayson.goingon.com that when the flow, filter, analyze search architecture correlates to the “observed movements in things like … stock markets, company sales […] it should ultimately be able to theoretically predict, with reasonable accuracy, many of those changes. Yes, I said it: SkyGrid and its new search architecture may ultimately predict the future,” the author writes.
Mr. Burnham contrasts the “flow/filter/analyze” SkyGrid architecture to the “traditional” “crawl, index, query,” and the verdict to the latter sounds pessimistic. He calls SkyGrid “a radical new architecture” which ‘holds the potential to actually predict the pattern and influence of idea/meme propagation throughout the internet and from there into the financial markets and beyond.” To support his claims, the author breaks the flow-based architecture description in a series of logical steps that he had, as an early beta-tester, identified.
As to the danger of having the new, “revolutionary” search architecture getting beaten by the sharks of the business, Google, for instance, Mr. Burnham has the answer to that. “Moving from a traditional crawl/index/query architecture to a flow/filter/analyze one is a decidedly non-trivial undertaking, one that would require an entire re-architecture of their core services and thus one highly unlikely to be made.”
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Nuclear power flashes light at tunnel end
February 20, 2008
It seems that nuclear power is gaining ground on the energy market, or so the report of a “London-based World Energy Council” maintains. James Kanter, writes on a Business of Green blog, how Europe seems to be investing its hopes into the fission reactors.
“Nuclear energy technology, its proponents say, already works and can supply a huge base load of power to keep national grids supplied,” Mr. Kanter writes. “By contrast, renewable sources of power like wind and solar are intermittent and less able — at least for the moment — to deliver the quantity of electricity needed to drive modern, industrial nations.”
Yet, the author writes, “[t]he question of how developed economies will keep the lights on without burning more fossil fuels seems unlikely to go away anytime soon.”
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Replacing paper in direct mail by stuff
February 20, 2008
Getting a weird hookadoo in your mailbox may not be such a remote thing, if Matter project works well, Community Mobilization blog implies.
“Matter is taking an unconventional approach to direct marketing by sending out boxes of ‘interesting stuff’ instead of paper,” following the historically successful model of Direct Mail.
“[The project] is a collaboration between Artomatic and Royal Mail, and it targets consumers in the UK only. If US based companies and philanthropies adopt this method who knows what kind of interesting stuff we may get in the mail, or how much junk we will be contributing to our landfills.”
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BusinessWeek might grab digital activism by the throat
February 20, 2008
Mary wonders on zapcoom.com about what implication for digital activists can have a story published in the “conservative BusinessWeek” magazine. “We go beyond signing up on an online petition,” says Mark Hanis, executive director of the Genocide Intervention Network, quoted by BusinessWeek. “The Web is very much the gateway into taking substantive action,” he says referring to a Facebook group initiative to help Darfur.
“What does it mean when a conservative magazine like BusinessWeek writes a story about college kids using Facebook to organize against the carnage in Darfur?” Mary writes. “It means that they see the practice of digital activism (or ‘activism 2.0,’ as they call it) to be widespread and influential enough to be worthy of notice.”
Careful to take into account BusinessWeek’s profit-seeking intentions, Mary comments that the site sees “some commercial implications from this new user group.”
“If activism is another motivation for using an ad-driven online service like Facebook or YouTube, the owners of these services are right to pay attention to their demands. I would love it if the market tailored services to meet the needs of digital activists.”
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TV ads might lose the cash cow status in a move to online
February 20, 2008
Webisodes and advertorials seem to be winning ground from traditional channels of advertising distribution – TV, VOD, and set-top box menu. Or so shows the study released by The Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research, comments Jackson West on Newteevee.com.
“For producers looking for sponsors,” Mr. West writes “87 percent of advertisers believe branded entertainment — from sponsor shout-outs to product placement — will play a stronger role.”
The poll also shows a decrease in budgets for TV ads. “[T]he stat that really jumped out at me claims that over half of the marketers polled said that they’d cut television advertising budgets by 12 percent once DVR penetration had reached half of American homes.
“Where’s that money going to go?” the author wonders.
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Zoom in next door even on vacation, using Google maps
February 20, 2008
Google’s expansion of its successful Maps program to searchable street views brought about Fred Stutzman’s reaction on his Unit Structures blog, where he outlines the main pros and cons of the new development.
“First and foremost, the streetview maps are really interesting,” Mr. Stutzman writes. “The technology and integration is very cool, and the maps are useful. […] Please don’t accuse me of not appreciating the maps.”
The author articulates several issues, tackling particularly the issues of privacy and its technology-driven expanding nature. Mr. Stutzman relates to the “living publicly” concept. In the context, he points out the short-hand that the new Google Maps feature provides for even a “non-stalker type” to see one’s place of living.
“With streetview, Google has gained significant agency in your offline identity,” the author writes. “Your house is now searchable by anyone; others may peer into your windows, zoom in and out, and explore your house from multiple perspectives. Is this simply another tradeoff we’ll make so we can gawk at the houses of others? And to put it more bluntly, has Google gone mad with power?”
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Censorship of online whistle-blowing ignites outrage
February 20, 2008
Following a Californian court decision a Swiss bank, Bank Julius Baer, obtained a restrictive order against Wikileaks, a whistle-blower site, reported various news agencies and blogs. The move had caused a massive outcry in the blogosphere and among free speech rights defenders.
“Although other versions of the site can still be accessed via mirror versions in India, Belgium and Christmas Island, the ruling has caused a wave of outrage around the world,” writes Antony Loewenstein on his blog. “The owners of the site remain defiant.”
The author digs out a quote, cited by Wired: “Julie Turner, a Californian attorney in California who has previously represented Wikileaks, told Wired that: “It’s like saying that Time magazine published one page of sensitive material so (someone can) seize the entire magazine and put a lock on their presses.”
Recently Mr. Loewenstein sees an alarming number of internet censorship cases. “The last few years have seen a steadily growing number of cases featuring wealthy litigants threatening, and often succeeding, against owners of websites that publish uncomfortable truths. Exiled Iranian blogger Hoder is a recent example.”
Nate Anderson writes on Arstechnica blog that “the restraining order against Wikileaks is temporary, and in the order Judge Jeffrey White notes that the group can fight the block during a February 29 hearing. Wikileaks says that it has several lawyers in San Francisco willing to work pro bono on the case.”
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