Most everyone has a routine for their favourite technology these days (unless you’re Amish, or Luddite, I suppose). In fact, you’ve probably had a routine for tech most of your life: Saturday morning cartoons as a kid, pulling out the calculator a few times a week for math homework, that ever-necessary first cup of coffee in the morning from your favourite coffee-maker, weekly calls to your mother, and so forth. As times have changed and tech has become more prevalent in our lives, we tend to rely on it, or at least engage in it, more and more. For us geeky-types, our routines are often somewhat fluid as we discover, try out and adopt or discard various technological wonders. So ask yourself: What’s your routine, currently? What do you do every day or every week that involves some form of technology or other? And, most importantly: Could you live without it? To get the ball rolling, here’s what I tend to tech with daily:
Category: Commentary (page 9 of 10)
What constitutes ethics in modern technology, specifically web-related? It’s a broad question, and one that is intensely debated in the realms of Privacy, Net Neutrality and Intellectual Property Rights. What about data manipulation, though? Where does that fit in to the ethical landscape? Classically, the public has railed against the manipulation of data — such as news sources and histories — for the benefit of companies and governments and the like, while at the same time accepting that such manipulation is likely both commonplace and and historical institution unto itself. Such acceptance is the reason things like conspiracy theories exist. Currently, these same viewpoints are often applied to common-use technology companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Google, all of whom have been accused of manipulating their technologies to further both their political agendas, their pocketbooks, and pretty much whatever else suits the search for a good story.
What about end-user manipulation of those same technologies? Is that acceptable? Web2Rule, a new service for internet marketers that allows for en masse manipulation of search and social media results, brings that question to the forefront.
Major League Baseball was handed a viral video opportunity on a silver platter on Tuesday night. In a Philadelphia Phillies game, a fan made a tremendous catch of a foul ball from his seat near the railing in the upper deck, leaning over the railing. After high-fiving nearby fans, he handed the ball to his young daughter, who proceeded to toss the ball over the railing into the crowd below. The fan was shocked, but upon seeing his daughter’s dismay, quickly recovered to embrace her in a hug. The video was posted on YouTube, and swept the internet . . . until Major League Baseball forced the video to be taken down. Stupid, or a reasonable exercise of copyright?
Tech geeks get overly excited by new tech releases. I count myself in that group. Also, it is easy for tech geeks to forget the past (or at least view that past with a fond chuckle), since technology by its very nature tends to constantly grow and evolve. For example, now that I have an iPhone, I look back and wonder how I ever could have loved my Palm Treo as much as I did. So, am I buying into the hype if I wonder whether the next three months will be the most exciting three months ever in tech? Is this a view that would cause chuckles of amusement (or derisive calls of "noob!") from tech veterans? Or are the next three months shaping up to be as awesome as they seem?
Hey Authors . . . You Snooze, You Lose With the Google Book Deal
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