Technology and the English language
Him: “I think I’ll do a blog about that”. Me: “Do you really think it merits creating a new blog?” Him: “What do you mean?” Me: “Well, you said you were going to do a blog about it”. Him: “So?” Me:...
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The PC: the new sunset industry
IDC says PC sales fell 14 percent in the first quarter on a year-over-year basis. That’s worse than its forecast of a 7.7 percent drop. This is the worst quarter for PC industry since 1994 when IDC...
View ArticleIt’s the metadata, stoopid
This morning’s Observer column. “To be remembered after we are dead,” wrote Hazlitt, “is but poor recompense for being treated with contempt while we are living.” Cue President “George W” Obama in the...
View ArticleEdward Snowden’s not the story. The fate of the internet is
This morning’s Observer column. Repeat after me: Edward Snowden is not the story. The story is what he has revealed about the hidden wiring of our networked world. This insight seems to have escaped...
View ArticleUnintended consequences of NSA surveillance (contd.)
This from a law professor. You can consider the National Security Agency’s data-gathering programs a grim necessity to protect the nation or an outrageous violation of privacy. What is unquestionable...
View ArticleThe Snowden effect (contd.)
The Snowden effect continues. And affects not just companies getting nervous of the US cloud, but alsop, apparently, American internet users. Which in due course will affect US advertisers. In the days...
View ArticleBeyond gadgetry lies the real technology
This morning’s Observer column. Cloud computing is a good illustration of why much media commentary about – and public perceptions of – information technology tends to miss the point. By focusing on...
View ArticleWhat happens when algorithms decide what should be passed on?
One of the things we’re interested in on our research project is how rumours, news, information (and mis-information) can spread with astonishing speed across the world as a result of the Internet. Up...
View ArticleEvidence-based anti-terrorism. Now that *would* be a good idea…
… as Gandhi said of Western civilisation. But it’s not what we’ve got. In fact the only paper I can find which attempts to do some kind of cost-benefit analysis on the ‘war on terror’ comes from the...
View ArticleAmazon’s Cloud Nine
This morning’s Observer column: In 1999, Andy Grove, then the CEO of Intel, was widely ridiculed for declaring that “in five years’ time there won’t be any internet companies. All companies will be...
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