Watching the news, two stories catch one’s eye, and remind one of how much things are changing, and how fast. The journey from bits to atoms is not as simple as that from atoms to bits.
Technology
The worst tech gadgets of 2010
It might have been the year of the iPad, but Wired looks back on the worst tech products of 2010. From the $500 JooJoo, an iPad wannabe with no apps and no internet, to the wearable videocamera that didn’t stay on the head, there were some tech shockers.
Online privacy dangers: they’re not what you think
Forget your drunken photos on Facebook. They already know about them, and you know they know. Don’t worry about tracking cookies either. It’s what you don’t know they know that you should worry about.
People, planet and profit: the things new companies care about
Benefit corporations, which care about environmental and social responsibilities as well as turning a profit, are the latest trend in the social enterprise sector. But is the tech world ready for these ‘triple bottom line’ businesses, asks Leila Janah.
BP spill: technology cannot save us
The BP oil spill is likely to leak until August. There’s a belief in the US that new technology can fix every problem. But the BP oil spill — and the failure of Top Kill — is disproving that faith.
The tangled web of sex, sports and mobile phones
NFL star Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of sexually assaulting a young women, with suggestions that his body guards deleted incriminating photos. When will the Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps of the world realise that technology can cause them trouble?
When CDs become retro
It’s the year 2022, and the hipster kids are rediscovering the retro appeal of Compact Discs… hang on to your discmans: they could one day be collectors’ items, if this vision of the future is anything to go by.
Why the future isn’t as exciting as we thought
Video phones are the one gadget The Future actually promised and delivered, but realistically the last thing anyone wants to do when having a phone conversation is look at someone, says Joel Stein.
Crikey Says: No ads cause newspapers’ nightmare on E-street
Can the e-reader save newspapers and quality journalism? In a word, no.
Best tech ideas of 2009
David Pogue announces his Pogie Awards for the best technology ideas from 2009, including Apple’s Find My iPhone feature, where you can search for your iPhone remotely, and Readability, a toolbar that deletes everything from a website except the text and photos. No blinking links or banners!
Rumours of the death of the written word have been greatly exaggerated
YouTube, iPods and other fandangled things that confuse your grandmother haven’t killed the written word. Rather, we’re reading more words than ever before because technology hasn’t found a better substitute for conveying certain types of info.
Guy Rundle: Mr Rundle’s Christmas Sermon
You know that the culture is in a parlous state when the most sage advice is coming from Lily Allen. Time to become a neo-luddite and get your life back.
PHOTO GALLERY: The Sea Shepherd’s new anti-whaling stealth boat
Forget rickety old ships manned by raggedy hippies, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s new high-tech anti-whaling powerboat looks like it’s straight out of a Bond film. Go inside the latest weapon against Japanese whaling.
On the death of letter writing
Hand written letters may be dead, but that doesn’t mean the process of thinking, communicating and creating a sense of self has been abandoned, writes James Bradley. It’s just now tweets not post cards.
Going, going, gone: 40 technologies on life support
Do you remember receiving a grainy fax? Using a public phone booth? Making someone a mix tape? PC World examine the top 40 nearly obsolete technologies.
The little laptops taking on the big boys
A new breed of mini-laptops are threatening to take over the traditional market, and the big manufacturers aren’t happy.
The week in geek: Google powered laptops, Crackberry fans rejoice
Google powered laptops … Crackberry fans rejoice … Crowdsourcing search fails
The world smirks at Conroy’s censorship plan
The rest of the world has been smirking at Stephen Conroy’s ill-conceived plan to censor Australia’s internet for a while now, but a new study published by Brooklyn Law School is a serious embarrassment, writes Colin Jacobs.
Google/Sensis deal cuts both ways
Could it be that, post-Burgess, we have a kinder, gentler Telstra on our hands, asks AntiGeek.
What if an opposition leader joined a social network and nobody came?
Malcolm Turnbull has joined Twitter, the “micro-blogging” service that allows posts of only 140 characters. And he’s been an immediate hit, writes the AntiGeek.
WYD Web 2.0: priests on pashing
The WYD social networking site is pretty impressive stuff, especially the Ask a Priest function, writes Eleri Harris.
Crikey essay: The fiction of impartial Australian science
Our society lives with a couple of open fictions. One of those fictions is the idea that science is impartial, that it can be relied upon to form the best possible basis for public policy, writes Ben Gilna.
