randomosity

Fawkes Book

Last week Stéfan Sinclair noted that his upgrade to Leopard had largely been a less than awe-inspiring experience. he did find some amusement with the new Mosaic screensaver and I will admit that after trying it on his instigation, it’s pretty cool. I have to add another rather impressive addition to the list. DataDetectors! Wow. I can remember being one among many that saw the power of this sort of recognition of disjointed info on the Newton and having it take a scribble about lunch with Joe and make some assumptions and create an event in your calendar linked to the first Joe it found in your address book. So, Apple’s been playing with the technology for awhile. DataDetectors are so subtle that I suspect many people might be missing them. I did.
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The consistently thought-provoking Chris Brogan explores how current digital tools provide for greater freedom in employment and life in general. Chris makes some prescient referrals to technologies and ponders why one should focus on being more mobile or consider being more nomadic. His post explores the equation from the perspective of the nomad. I wonder what the perspective is from the other side - from those that would consider the nomad’s services. He raises the critical question about data security and I wonder if this doesn’t extend to a larger question of trust. I have only rarely been on the nomad employing side of the equation, but even by appreciating the nomadic perspective, I am challenged to feel comfortable with the nomad. It’s not really about the results - or about my level of trust. I agree with Chris and with Mark Harrison who affirmed that the nomad should be paid for delivering results. What concerns me is the breadth of digital relationships.
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Brogan on Transmission

Calatrava in Valencia

I hadn’t been to the Digg Labs area in a while. Wow. They have a wonderful assortment of story and author visualization tools available there that are both mesmerizing and thought provoking. Navel gazing is a wonderful past-time and methinks that Digg is making a concerted effort at perfecting the art. I am particularly attracted to the new Arc tool. Its shows story popularity in realtime and also makes a link between stories dugg by the same users. Thicker vectors indicate story popularity. Interesting.
The Stac visualization is also extremely cool. A collection of stories represented by bars of varyiong shades based on popularity spread across the bottom of the screen and then as they are dugg, weight blocks fall from above reinforcing the story title. Just neat. And as before far to mesmerizing.
Its a quick way to gauge popularity and user activity. The animation is smooth and entertaining. Popular of course has nothing to do with my interest or relevance, but the visualization is effective in conveying the info and it does make a fine screensaver. Apple’s new RSS visualizer in Leopard is another cool infofeed screensaver. Visually stunning.

Widemail

Eamonn pointed me to press release on a rather jarring new TV channel offering in Germany. Etos TV Mourning Channel is a 24/7 broadcast of video obituaries, short videos of the deceased as well as documentaries on cemeteries and on funeral practise. My first reaction was one of amazement - one that a broadcaster would propose such a channel and two that anyone could be expected to tune in. Although, not something I would expect to find myself watching, on reflection, there is much more to this story.
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Good Presentation Tips

BonPatron