Strike a pose - there IS something to it

Another non-online Wired piece - on the Harvard Business School (assistant) professor - Amy Cuddy - and her work on body language as a life hack.

Turns out that not only will visualizing an action help you as you perform it, but doing "high power poses" before you do an interview or a performance will makes you (appear) more competent and enthusiastic!

Says a lot about mind over matter - and the old adage of "think happy thoughts". Not only at the moment influences you and thereby the audience. But up front actions spill through.

Does that makes us really simple mammals, or extremely adaptable? Borderline magic? You don't see me doing it, yet it changes how you see me.

How many other factors transfer across time? Will smiling a lot before a meeting transfer into a good mood regardless of expressions during the meeting? And does it work when the audience is aware of it, looking more intently on the actual performance and trying to read the body language behind the body language?


Where do I sign up for taking a masters degree and digging into this? Seriously, it sparks of some many questions and permutations. 



Hungry for more, check out the video of Amy Cuddy from PopTech



Or just get it on with Madonna - Vogue your way into the good spot.

Write me a story - it's good for you

Clive T column in Wired 20-05,  talks about the creative benefit of writing fanfic.

Interesting points on the value of working within constraints, having to mold your story to the rules and themes of the "canon" you are working with. But it is unclear why this would be better or preferable to "pure" creation, be it written or other forms of art.

When you play in someone else's sandbox, you just go with the rules - sure, you can hear things in a vacum - rather than exploring the boundaries and rules you find suitable.

So, fanfic as a testing grounds, a "gateway drug" into creating - and most importantly into taking feedback on the work you make?


- ...and the sun was here, then it hid away again, playing with us for the weekend once again...

Splat!

Planning on digging into some more Dexter over the weekend - so it was fun to see a story on new equations for blood spatter in Wired (20-05 issue, story not online, apps only)

Illustration, trajectories Wikipedia

There is, however, a Wikipedia article on "bloodstain pattern analysis" - with a solid assortment of images and animations (like the one linked on the left) explaining some of the maths and science behind it.

Also came across "Introduction to Blood Spatter Analysis"- a full on handout with excersises and tasks, taking you through the very basics of measuring and identifying patterns. It is from back in 2003, but the basics should still apply pretty well.

Dropping single drops from assorted heights, then onto multiple drops from same height, assorted surfaces and so on. #Science


Sometimes the smallest things can make a huge difference.

Maybe? Not an option

Do or do not. ..............


Did you fill out the rest of the quote?
Did it just jump into your head?

Why is it so memorable? Because it juxtaposes the normal way of saying it. Sure, but also because the point goes deeper. It makes sense on a base level.

Posted a long time ago about saying hell yeah based off a podcast by CC. Now he just had a post on saying NO. Which iterates some of the same points. Don't do anything just to do it. Don't do it halfway or partially. If you can't commit - don't bother. And if the other party can't? Same.


And by that little round a bout we get to the inspiration for the detours, namely

CREATIVITY IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT

the title font just looks so right, guess we'll have to keep it...! The post is not new. I mailed it to myself end of May in 2011. No comments, no notes, just the link. No idea anymore where I picked it up unfortunately. And no idea what I might have planned on writing.

But that is the great thing about being in this wonderful month of June - flow all the way. 

Flow is a wonderful, and sometimes necessary, state. It is great when coding (rather than debugging or just tweaking). And when writing it is the fuel for the fire. Writing begets writing. One post sparks off ideas for more.

So why is that post from last year worth your time? Because of the attitude - birthright puts a spin on the rest of the post. This isn't just something you should pick up for fun or profit. It is something you are entitled to. Something you need to have, to use, to develop. Nurture it.

....chair-dancing to "lets go crazy" - vintage Prince & The Revolution...

j.d.i (-borderline rant)

Almost timely, but last weeks issue was really spot on this week - picking up the theme from the other day;

shikin haramitsu daikomyo

(explainer from NYdojo)


Moving. On wards. Learning. Doing.


You never know when the magic strikes. So don't just wait around for another chance. 


Flinch


Carpe Diem


There are so many ways to say it, but only one way to do it - JUST DO IT. 


Work out
Read
Learn
Discuss
Share




How should you work out? Try one thing, then move on. The evaluate, or move on. Keep at it until it now longer gives the boost, the kick, the energy above and beyond what you put into it. 


How often? Often enough. Be consistent, but don't over do it. LIfe is a marathon if done right, so keep at it, take a break and get back on the horse. And then use the energy for moving on down the list.


What should you read? A little bit of everything. Read for fun.But also for learning. Read to expand your horizon, and to challenge yourself. Read as a reward, and as relaxation.


Learning? A little something new every week or month. Dive into Codecademy or pick a course at Khan. Watch a TED talk and then pick up some background insights. 


And then transform the learning into insights - by reformulating the points, by discussing at home, work or online. 


FInally, take what you got out of the discussion, and share it - blogg it, put it on Quara or write a book. Giving back, and sharing forward. Keep the loop flowing.

Substitution - it really subs to be you

Seth, in an email this time - Domino;

A New York City publisher probably needs $2000 a page to acquire, edit, typeset, print and distribute a book (making up a number from thin air). A self-published ebook author needs $1 a page.
That’s not a cost-efficiency. That’s a totally different industry. But the if the viewer/reader doesn’t treat the two products as fundamentally different, if reading or watching one is a replacement for the other, then a crisis is right around the corner.

Dis-intermediation is one thing. But the democratization of production? Making everything digital, and then making the tools free? That is the real "killer".

And no, it is not the "same" tools as used by the pros, but for a lot of things, good enough is more than enough. It doesn't need to have 80 footnotes for each chapter if that is hard to make, it can just have a free companion book of notes, sources and ideas for further reading.


Take the Flinch, by Julien Smith. Yes, literally take it. It is free. Written, proofed, edited and with a cover. Uploaded to Amazon, hosted and distributed by them as well. All for free. Because the ideas are what matters. Getting more people exposed to it means more people hcaniging their life and our world.

Sure it might also give a boost to the rest of the Domino back catalog, some more traction for the blog, and related sales for Amazon of Pressfield amongst others. But the main point is that putting out a book for free can be close to free.

And it goes for a lot of other media content as well. The variety of choice enabled by global instant distribution, combined with digital back catalogs? Stunning.

Case in point; audio content and yours truly.

 (Caution; shameless self-links ahead - back in time)


Once upon a time audio was music. And music was cd's (well a few records and a bunch of tapes, but it took off with the shiny disc).

As I grew older I picked up back catalog for artists I liked, one or five golden oldies, and new releases every now and then. Then I had a rather modest 150. That is one a week for three years.

Then I got online radio streaming - and so I could listen any time and "any where"(well, at uni anyway). Whole new world, less planned music, more new and unknown stuff.

Then I got the Zen Micro. And started making digital copies of those 150 cd's. And enjoying them all over again in new ways.

Then I got podcasts - and suddenly a whole new world of audio content on the go poured in. First a lot of "talk". The stories as Escapepod led to Podcastle and Pseudopod. And now music at work - Tiesto, Gareth Emery, Sebastien B keeps me in the zone when coding or doing number crunching.

So from simply music, today there are four audio content sets competing for my time;

• 150+ albums in iTunes 
• DAB and streaming Pinnell radio
• Music podcasts at work
• Assorted podcasts on the go

Most of them at little or no cost to me beyond already sunk cost such as the radio, the internet connection and the iPhone.

And then there is Spotify and Wimp...


- ...and the sun is back - again - mixed day today, but bright summer nights keeps the sun on past 21:00 ...

One man - no vote?

In the latest Wired to make its physically way all over here, the first article is a real mind bender;

"How Selecting Voters Randomly Can Lead to Better Elections" talks about the ancient Greek model (or Athenian to be poignant) and how it is influencing experiments and discussions today in order to improve the electoral process. 

For a backgrounder or refresher - start with Wikipedia.

And then dive into other materials, like the History Channel.

Why do we vote? Or have the right to do so?

Because or voice should be heard, and because the whole population together should feel 'responsible' for the politicians and their actions. As they take actions on our behalf. 

And as the actions or inaction impacts more and more of our lives, so should the involvement and the shared understanding grow?

Is the US vastly different? Well, in terms of political ads and spending it certainly stands out. Here in Norway the political ads are strictly legislated, in terms of when, how and who. But social media and tools like Google Adsense is blurring the lines between information and campaigning. 

So, should we "outsource" the care for politics - to a random sample, or to those who really really care? 

Or, should perhaps the media and the politicians work together to expand the insight and transparency, and radically change how politics is discussed? Or should we as citizens ourselves take control of the agenda?

Holder de ord is one such initiative - an open source collaboration (github!) to present voting data from the Norwegian parliament. It translates as "do they keep their word" - and is similar to sites like They Work For You in the UK

Is 60% or 50% enough? Or would it be better to have a representative selection of a few hundred? Would it make a difference? For the politicians, for us, for the future?

Just do your stuff

Going more and more pure digital - added a subscription for Fast Company on the iPad, and started off wtih the 100 creative people issue. Way back when (before this blog, actually last century...) used to subscribe to both FC and Wired, but along the boom and bust FC got axed. And I've been meaning to pick itup again for some time now. But with the digital price approaching a single printed copy at the newsstand there really wasn't any need for consideration.

Now I just need to find a good way to get the ideas easily off the app and into the blog. (All the while working away at the Wired backlog stack still occupying a corner of the desk)

But enough meta, and onto the meat


Best quote so far from the 100 most creative list;

"I want to say that, instead of im-possible, I'M possible,” ... "And so are you.” CeeLo

Sure there are thing that are impossible. And sometimes we meet people we feel are impossible. But just move beyond it. focus on yourself and how you can move (yourself or others) forward.

It is so easy to just get into the funk, and let it bring you down as well.

Amazing how much better things get when you improve the bits you have control over rather than ranting about the ones you don't.

@codepo8 

Getting both that tweet in the stream and reading the CeeLo piece on the same day felt like a happy coincidence. And it sparked another boost of energy, creativity and finally now blogging.

This is going out 'realtime', with the archive posts coming up being backdated to fill the gaps from last week.


As a suitable side note, the soundtrack for this writing is Girl Talk and All Day. A true example of making impossible into possible. Mashup (archive ftw) at it's finest?

18.5 days of music on the laptop feels like magic. Sure Spotify and Wimp brings everything and then some. But I still enjoy having "my" collection - since it allows for fun trips down memory lane, like picking up Tommy Tee from 1998 and Dr Dre from 2001, or working out again to Prodigy, like way back when.


...and the sun made a short but crucial appearance today - otherwise it feels like the end times, rain rain rain for days and days...

From the third rock outwards

Wired had a piece on the Mars simulation mission - where they got to interact with some of the participants before and during the 'trip' to Mars.

I tried to find my original post on the announcement and call for participants, but only found this piece from 2007 on finding new planets way out there. And the reason was that I only posted about it in Norwegian. Back on November 1st 2009 actually. Here is a quick blurb, translated and edited;

Have you planned your vacation next year and the year after? If you really need a break ESA might be looking for you, as they are planning a full simulation of a round trip to Mars.

And quotes from the full ESA Call for Candidates, deadline on November 5th 2009;

"The crew will follow a programme designed to simulate a 250-day journey to Mars, a 30-day surface exploration phase and 240 days travelling back to Earth. The isolation facility at IBMP in Moscow, Russia"
"... aged 20–50, motivated, in good health and no taller than 185 cm… Selection will be based on education, professional experience, medical fitness and social habits."

The concept is incredible in many ways. 

First off, the fact that we are actively planning and working on ways to explore Mars is beyond cool. And by we I refer to humanity in its broadest sense. Taking the long term view, we need to be able to get off Earth at some point. Either due to our own actions or inactions - or because the Sun makes things to hot for comfort. 

Secondly, actually locking someone up for more than 500 days? For science? That needs a pretty "big hairy goal" to justify. And the billions an actual trip wold probably cost, combined with the end goals do certainly fit that category.

But how to you go from thinking and acting like you are locked in a box, to acting like you are actually the first humans bound for, and landing on, Mars? 

Sure, Big Brother and the rest of reality TV has shown that a lot of people are completely able to forget where they are. But then you have the actual prize in the end to vye for. And on a real trip, that prize would be truly spectacular. As for sitting in a box? Not going to get you all that much attention when you get out. 

Still, I would have signed up for the real thing. Strings be damned - to boldly go and so forth. 

Glory, glory - what's the story?

Story inspiration this time - Pseudopod - is mainly a horror podcast, but episode 266 is as much about life as things that go bump in the night.

The theme brings to mind Bruce Springsteen and "Glory Days" (embed below) - looking back as much as ahead, or simply at right now. Living in the moment, or for the moment.



Sure there might be wonderful things hidden behind the fence.
But there might just as easily be things best left undisturbed.

We glorify youth, and by extension say that growing up is not a goal as such, just something that happens as you try to (re)capture that feeling of owning the world and everything in it. When everything was all about the here and now, when it felt like nothing outside mattered, and everything was still possible - because tomorrow hadn't started.

But every day is a new day, every dream another chance. Carpe Diem isn't just about the big dreams. It is also living life as it happens. Every day a little piece of the puzzle. Every (chance) encounter another moment to savour.

So, as summer is setting in, projects and deadlines are winding down, are you preparing for fall, or just staying in the zone of now?

And thus we reach the end of 2011. Or at least the bottom of the stack of Wired from last year. Still got a solid dose of 2009 prepped for future ideas. But it feels good to be blogging, having cleared out the draft pile and move the last issues from 19- into the basement.

Had a post on Hunch. And how they had ended up. This time it is Quora. The profile talked about the influx of users, the money raised and the addictability of pushing answers out there. And to loop it back Quara has some answers on Wired as well.

My take? A fun playground, mainly for friends of friends of friends - and for those that want a bit more opinionated 'facts' than they can get on Wikipedia, but without reading a handful blogg post to get it.

There is still a lot of start up, and by extension tech topics covered. But there is also a lot of "long tail" content, like where to get biltong in Amsterdam.

Not my first place to go to for information, but would and could probably be included when doing a bit more general research. Possibly also because it hasn't gotten any google love for the subjects I've needed additional details on lately. Blogs, groups or Wikipedia tends to cover the results.


(this is also the last "back dated" post - filling in the gap week and making June-12 a truly all time high in terms of posts, 22 and counting - passing October of 2004)

The insights of Khan

Another back issue of Wired, another post based loosely on a theme explored.

Education - and how we can change it using digital tools.

Nothing less is the driving force for Khan Academy, featured in 19-08 (link added):

Khan’s videos are anything but sophisticated. He recorded many of them in a closet at home, his voice sounding muffled on his $25 Logitech headset

The piece also had an overview of some other edu sites, on the second page online. But with John Resig aboard the Khan team I can't help but but hope for and expect (more) great things from them in the years ahead.

It must be exhilarating going into school now - knowing that if you don't really get things the way the teacher tries to explain it, there is Wikipedia, Youtube and dedicated sites for most things to give you a second shot. And most of them for free (well, provided you have a computer and internet connection - or can access one at school, the library or similar)


see video in context and with links to the "rest" of Art History collection

Aside; noticed now that the piece was written by Clive Thompson. No wonder it resonated, love the writing style, even if a few of the regular columns seems a bit rehashed. Guess it comes with the turf, and is the reason I try not to reread to much of my own old stuff.

You make what you measure

C.S Penn piece with the snappy title; What cake can teach you about metrics:

The next time someone insists that they need a simplified, single dashboard metric of all your marketing performance, remind them that they are far more comfortable with 5-6 metrics (cups, teaspoons, inches, temperature, ounces, etc.) for a simple cake.

It is almost sad that the mantra "you get what you measure" is so little understood. Focus on call times and everybody will escalate or 'try this then call back'.

Not because people are evil (...) but because we are good at adapting. And at learning how our rewards work. If we can adjust our behaviour easily we will. As long as the cost of change is less than the imagined (or subconscious) reward, there will be an effect.

So take the time to find the balanced overview, take the time to dig into the factors - and think about what you would do yourself if the goals changed.

Just look at measuring a website

Users?
Pageviews?
Bounce rate?
Time on page?
Engagement, actions?
ARPU?
Frequency?
Recency?

There is a reason for tools like Google Analytics having all this and more. One nail does not a house build. The interplay, to consequences and the trends. Not the actual number as of last night. Either the number the last five seconds, then the last 30 minutes. Or the last month.


...and if you need more specifics on all that jazz - there is no one like Avinash. Read. Do. Learn.

Magazines go web?

Several concepts and developments so far this year, in bringing a more flexible set of tools for presenting content on the web, in the browser.

Adobe is really pushing the boundaries and working hard to maitain a position as both tech and thought leader. Issue #3 of Appliness just came out, and as both a tech demo and a reference the first two were solid. (Even if the site has bugs in the archive links on the blog, and lacks links for the authors listed...)

And the work on text flow inside containers first released as a special version of webkit? Stunning. Took some time but it made it into a few builds.

Looking forward to hear if there is any further enhancement in the iOS 6 package. It is listed as "partailly" supported in the upcoming Safari 5.2. Thankfully the specs are moving ahead independently of the test cases.

Shame can't get the demo to run properly now in v19 [woops - forgot the about:flag - has to be enabled manually for now...] - here is the  announcement and link from back in november 2011:

Corlan provides a demo page that enables you to see text reflow in action (assuming you've the latest release of Chrome, naturally)

Netmag piece on Chrome support

- ...and the sun is fading in the sky as this is written - had to pump up both the screen and the backlight from 1 to 3. Still not putting on the lights. Summertime. When the living is easy...

Play my life

First time back in OSLOVE post 22.7
the roses held the ground

the lost post

and a blank canvas

just a tagline remains

vague ideas of original intent

replaced with a new world



where roses are more powerful

more lasting

and more widespread



than hate, or fear,
or cries for a starring role
if not as hero, then villain or anti-hero

and so the cycle moves once more

from pain to gain

life, death, love, remembrance

OSLOVE.

28.7 #KRS

Natural 11

Wired 18.11 - the "natural" breast issue caused a bit of a stir. But what got my attention was something completely different.



Phineas & Ferb mainly. The piece was just around the same time as they started airing big time on Disney Channel over here. I must admit to being  pleasantly surprised to hear that the were Disney made (or paid, same distinction).

Became a fan watching it with junior (who wanted to hear the songs over and over and over and over... especially the "big tune" #1 song - he has since moved on to Dora as the main "want to see")

I had some fun with the ToonTips - short clips showing how to draw one character in one simple pose, using the stylus and the iPad to sketch out some simple characters (heads at least). The simple style makes it both memorable and replicable even for a simple dabbler such as me. Even downloaded and printed out a four page guide for when junior gets around to drawing somewhat planned.

Then there was the launch (?) of wired.com/rawfile - photoblog with a twist. Which is still going strong, actually ended up there a few days ago for the 'screaming' images (one seen left - worth reading and seeing the whole piece)


And finally, WDYDWYD. What a fun acronym, impossible to sound out compared to saying it in full. And so simple to understand when you have heard or read it once.

What is it that motivates you? Makes the blood pound a little bit more, makes you get out of bed in the morning?

Seeing it's been taken a step further with a .com - get some text on an image to express it - WHY do you do what YOU do?

Sometimes just asking it makes things clearer. And sometimes if you really dig into the answers you might find that it is time to change. 

Be it a pivot or a "war" - or a FLINCH! (still free, still awesome, still nagging me)




- ...and the sun is probably shining today, so I'm out at the swings, while the nice servers pushes this out there for you. Yes YOU.

If you see it, can you DO it?

Small hassle with going backwards through the stacks - this post was a draft initially put between two other ideas, that have sort of evolved into something else. But there is still a link of some sort to the topics of how we can learn so much more with digital access - and at the same time how machine learning is actually starting to pan out. Not as the AI of old sci-fi, but as topic masters.

Wired 19.01 was the issue that originally covered "the other" C:A and his musings on "computer assisted innovation" (CAI) - as seen on the TED stage when the LXD kicked it. [wikip] Dance is just one of many fields where the ability to instantly and repeatedly view others across the globe has turned up the speed of innovation, change and adaptability.

My initial response on reading the piece on CAI, and watching the video, was "VIEW SOURCE".

For myself and a lot of others picking up web development in the early to mid nineties consisted of a few books, some newsgroups and mailing lists - and a lot of 'learning by looking'.  "View Source" - it was how the web was built; share the insight into the code, then deconstruct it, comment it and do something more.

Video means that ANY skill or niche can "play" along - and thereby get "innovation at net speed" - no printing time, no time to wait for the traveling freak show or circus to amaze you, no waiting around for the start of season 2 (or for season one to get to Norway in the first place...)

Instant access, instant gratification. Instant inspiration.




And the other noteworthy subject was a part of the AI package - on stock bots, going too fast and too large to be understood? Far way from the early 90-ies comp sci I read at university. Memory and disk space was still at a premium. Java was starting to turn up and promise a bit more hassle free environment (hello Applet!), but for hard core coding there was C++

...and for the most dedicated even Assembly was taught, used and discussed.

Thankfully (?) the iOS success has raised awareness of a stricter coding paradigm and the need for more than just a casual understanding to do dev.

Sure, you can whip up a simple hello world without more than skimming the tutorials. And you can wrap your web app into a native powerhouse using Phonegap and the likes. But as soon as you start into the more complex functionality performance and structure is taking a solid hit from messy code.

Lost in time

An assorted braindump for Wired 17.12 - so pushing this one backwards in time, more to come, more to go.

www.fora.tv - TED talks for the masses...? Seems like a sort of dumping post for mid-list conferences that want something more than their own blog and vimeo posting for attention. Mixing premium (500) with free (10000+) content. But since this is the first time I've re-heard about it since then mayhap the need just isn't there? More than easy enough to embed from vimeo or youtube and then use social media to promote it yourself - or have the attendees and presenters do it.

Bussing away - tap tap tap

Photojojo - iPhone lenses @ $40 ?

 I'm still planning on getting a small "pocket lens", now with being back on iOS and a 4s it makes even more sense. Sort of.

Apps like Instagram makes for a different scope of photos. And while it isn't true macro, it can go pretty close for that weird urban, industrial too real look.

Guess it would make an ideal impulse buy, but haven't seen them in the local "almost" Apple Store. Guess not official enough to carry. Or too slim margins.


Snap on the right is from my "Android stint" - found the new "from you phone" option in Blogger. Actually cool. But short codes like WP would wow me more.

(sidenote; just put a macro-band in the shopping cart, just for a few fun shots. Chance of completing purchase? 60%...)



Ads noted; 2 * QR codes, google Goggles ad - is it really smarter, simpler than a code url or sms txt call to action? Especially with pretty custom short url available; jr.ly/FORD11 ? Or is it about being "innovative" in print? Expanding boundaries because url or text didn't track well enough (or perform?) Guess it comes from reading the paper and most magazines at home - don't really feel the need to read more on a tiny screen, when I can just google or type my way towards the full picture.

Everyday magic that we are to busy to really enjoy?

LaCie - MosKeyTO - 8gb usb MINI drive - $19 list price now, should be around NOK 200? It is almost too small not to use. As a quick backup, drop box sync or just keylogger ;) In fact they've even added in matching cloud storage from something called 'wuala'.



Also had a short post in the Start section on Competitive coding - using Pascal and C++ as the languages. No java. So in a way basics still rule? Pascal was the first 'real' language I was thought at uni, then we moved on to C++. While those a year later got a new class with java as intro.

Thinking back to a world where Java was the new hotness, that today is ObjectiveC and Apps. Back then it was Applets to rule them all. Same concept really. Make some dedicated code, play on top of a set of API's and a runtime. And distribute the file across purely digital channels.

That failed - at least compared to the hype and the potential. While the iPhone that initially touted web apps broke the bank and then some in terms of full on apps. Chance, planning, maturity or something more?




Blasting out tunes from the past in iTunes - jumping around in the grunge, heavy and punk genre buckets. 
Right now "Moonchild".....

Neuro-pattern-light

I hate the new blogger. It killed the original version of this post as I hit save. Then I tested a new blank post and it failed again. Could somebody please tell Google that there is this thing called iPad, and if their solutions continue to work as poorly a lot of users are up for grabs. I have already stopped most my newsletters to gmail because the use is a hassle (yeah, could add it as account, but with work email that was a hassle in the first iteration at least)


And now tumblr looks really good, why even wordpress is starting to come around to ios as a platform of choice with the app growing stronger every incremental release..




On to the recreation, thankfully only two paras in before hit the save, but still two too many...

Neuro-pattern-light...or why I love william gibsons writing.

I think it has a lot to do with growing up alongside his three trilogies.

Read neuromancer et al in early teens at school, when computers consisted of commodore 64 (or a 128 as I had), used mainly for games and the occasional demo. A friends father had a Mac that we got to use for a few school projects - typing up the report and putting in some pictures.

Then picked up the bridge books more or less at university, where dot com was becoming a phrase, but a bit before the boom/bust really started. Back when Fast Company was still mostly about business trends.

And pattern rec is one of the last printed books I bought (fiction and regular non fiction at least) - spook country and zero history were delivered directly to a kindle or the kindle app on iPad. Read digitally and instantly on release. No time lag for cross Atlantic distribution or priorities.

My teens, my twenties, my thirties. As the world has gone digital and then some, so has my life. as the future has become today, so his books have merged into "reality", blurring the lines more with each passing chapter.


For books and background, check the Amazon author page

INTERVIEWER: For someone who so often writes about the future of technology, you seem to have a real romance for artifacts of earlier eras.
GIBSON: It’s harder to imagine the past that went away than it is to imagine the future. What we were prior to our latest batch of technology is, in a way, unknowable.... very, very difficult to conceive of a world in which there is no possibility of audio recording at all. Some people were extremely upset by the first Edison recordings. ... It sounded like the devil, they said

 - Paris Review

The magic of not having. So good quote - had to brutally trim it down a bit, because you really should go over there and read the whole thing. Now. Come back afterwards. More to come here as well...






Because it is easy to add in the blanks, merge things (like a mobile phone and a mp3 player... Or a pc and a phone), but close to impossible to even remember back five or ten years, how much of a leap a simple innovation like the Palm Pilot was. An actual digital assistant in your hand. And it could do other things. Small games. Like magic.

Emergent technologies were irreversibly altering their landscape. Bleak House is a quintessential Victorian text, but it is also probably the best steam­punk landscape that will ever be. Dickens really nailed it, especially in those proto-Ballardian passages in which everything in nature has been damaged by heavy industry.

More of Dickens is definitely on my too read list, inspired this time by a piece on new bio on him. The British televised versions are great, and the podcast librivox version of two cities is killer. Like Stackpole, I firmly believe that the model he used to serialize his fiction is finding a new life in terms of shorter ebooks, faster turnaround for stories and generally more adaptability to reader expectations. 

... I remember walking past a video arcade,... seeing kids playing those old-fashioned console-style plywood video games... were so physically involved, it seemed to me that what they wanted was to be inside the games

...one day, I walked by a bus stop and there was an Apple poster. ... holding a life-size representation of a real-life computer that was not much bigger than a laptop is today. Everyone is going to have one of these, I thought, and everyone is going to want to live inside them. 

Woot! Loop in time. Arcade games as the driver, then apple as the trigger for seeing it "everywhere". Merging insights and intuition, that's what makes the book so much more than just a cool story. 


Today Apple is slowly moving us away from the PC age, into mobile and tactile  with the iOS touch interface. And once more games are actively taking a huge part in both pushing the hardware (thereby feeding the need for upgrades and rapid development) and the user interface - Angry Birds as touch training. Speed, precision and flexibility. 


The best way to get someone comfortable with a mouse back in the win 3 age was Solitare or Minesweeper. Sit them down, show them some serious stuff, then give them a ten minute "break" - after opening the program. We learn when we want to learn, when there is a clear reward rather than just an obligation. 

I’ve always been taken aback by the assumption that my vision is fundamentally dystopian. I suspect that the people who say I’m dystopian must be living completely sheltered and fortunate lives. The world is filled with much nastier places than my inventions, places that the denizens of the Sprawl would find it punishment to be relocated to, and a lot of those places seem to be steadily getting worse.

Putting things in perspective? How to compare to Dickens? Is he dystopian or simply telling of the underbelly of the dressed up pig? 


I for one didn't really think of Neuromancer as dark at the time, compared to something like Alien it was a happy place all around, with cool tech and the chance of making it big. 


That is one thing that is changed with the latest novels - or perhaps as much with my reading and views - sure there is a potential big score, but you get the feeling that just getting out or onwards is as much of a goal for the characters. 


The settings are more "glamour" compared to the first books, but in many ways it still feels more empty and forsaken. The art hidden from view, giving only a select few the enjoyment or the experience. The secret clips and the chase for just a little bit more.






First read about the interview care of one of the @greatdismal musing, but at that time the only online version was via a sub to P.R, so that was $5 lost revenue for them, as I'd have gladly paid for just the issue or the article (more or less the cost of a single copy newspaper here, so comparable value)

But then I saw it rt and checked the link - lo and behold, the full version is up. So it seemed a great test for iOs 5 reader mode, and also for the new +style blogger. First is OK, but lacks page jump/pagination (skip full screen height down). 


The other is another crappy google conversion. As a blog writer, the original blogger was as good as or better than any seen since. New might be ok on pc, but today that is close to irrelevant. Same reason can't really care about plus itself. Plain sucks compared to any twitter app.

Who loves you, and who do you love?

Starting off this back-post with a little bit of mood music, setting the mood and the stage. Bringing us back to England in the late nineties. With the rave track The messiah, featuring the quotes borrowed as a title; Who loves you, and who do you love? [Running Man]

This is part of my history, but also of a lot of myths. The summer of love. The happy generation. Bringing youths together in new ways, before Internet and mobiles dominated.

"Tribalism’s hothouse atmosphere has turned history into myth. ..., we use myth not to inform, but to bond"

- Intelligent Life

Stories for children? Lies for adults... as they said in the Science of Discworld books. History is a selection, a bias, strengthens over time to support an image, an ideal, a group. But do we need it anymore at the national level? 


Does it make sense to talk about the nation state in a grand perspective, when it is 14 billion years and change... And then at least ten thousand years of intelligent life (pun intended re source)?

Norway as a modern state dates back to 1905 or 1814, first parted from Denmark into a union with Sweden and then Independence. So why trace routes past four hundred years of assorted constellations jut to find a "true" past?


I for one am more influenced by ancient Greece, assorted enlightenment ideals, some English poets, thinkers and tinkerers. Not to mention the global, but US centric, online digital mash up of it all. Sure I enjoy the sagas and tales of old Norse gods and exploits. But they no more impact my daily life than does the Odyssey.

"We can found our identity on personal taste, not national myth. The future, in this reading, belongs to supranational groupings—football fans, jazz lovers, “Twilight” addicts—whose bonds soar over state boundaries like cut-price airlines"

Not one identity, but a mix suited to you, based on when and how you grew up, went to university and worked. Geography meet ideas. Limits, meet boundless. 


So, I might be a Norwegian by birth, but I am a geek, a ManU man, 'enga in my heart and so on. 
Not quite a brown coat, but certainly a wheedon'esqu gibson'reading free tweeting digitized mind. 


Also an ex-consultant and an ENTJ, which pegs me more than any national boundary could ever possibly do. Personality goes a long way...

"Any worthwhile identity must grow from self-awareness as well as self-esteem, and the sceptical temperature of contemporary life is conducive to a journey of self-knowledge"

And with tools like blogs to reflect and for some also debate, the options are endless. To bad the time isn't. But keep on telling the stories, shaping the myths and maybe, just maybe you'll figure out; Who loves you, and who do you love? 






...if not: it's time to start RUNNING

The challenges of (geek) parenting

This is just pure genius. "We have to have the talk"
Need to get a "Han shot first" tee for junior soon.

Yes MItch, there is a long tail...

Post by Mitch Joel, lamenting the lack of long tail or democratic split of ad revenues; Your Media Is Controlled By A Handful Of Companies (Yes, Even The Internet)

October 3, 2011, worldwide digital advertising accounted for about $64.03B. Google generates approximately 364% more revenue from advertising than it's next closest rival, Yahoo! With Facebook at $1.86B in advertising revenue (excluding virtual currencies/goods) for 2010

For once I have to disagree with the point he is making. And the reason is quite simple; Google doesn’t generate all of that on google.com or from their own sites as such– quite the opposite;

Google Sites Revenues - Google-owned sites generated revenues of $6.74 billion, or 69% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2011. This represents a 39% increase over third quarter 2010 revenues of $4.83 billion.
Google Network Revenues - Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $2.60 billion, or 27% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2011. This represents a 18% increase from third quarter 2010 network revenues of $2.20 billion

Taken from http://investor.google.com/earnings/2011/Q3_google_earnings.html - which was the current one at the time. 

So in their Q3 for 2011 alone the Google network revenues were above FB for the whole of 2010 (2.2 vs 1.86) – and that money IS the long tail! Sure some of it also goes to big media companies from the NYT down to our fvn.no – but it also goes to blogs and small niche sites.

(Sidenote; does blogger.com count as “google owned” in this split? If so the the actual long tail part could be even bigger)

So, if you go beyond the headline, into the numbers, there is proof positive that this wealth at least is “trickling down”!

When is a kilo perfect?

Two teams of scientists are struggling to create the perfect kilogram. I'm reading about it on the WIRED app: http://wrdm.ag/ff_kilogram 

(full direct no-redirect link)

Been reading a bit about systems and measurement in general in the pre-modern world lately, and I remember this Wired piece vividly. The incredible richness of detail in the work. Eight digits of precision and then some. Fixed things aren't really fixed until they can be consistently defined, replicated and remade independently of the base item.

And to think how we take it for granted, every time we pick up something from the store, or order a beer. We just assume that we are in fact getting a pint or half a litre. And that the weights in one store matches those in another, not to mention across the five different lanes in each. Technology makes the magic mundane.


Aside;
the wired app is fun to play with, and it helped quite a bit when they added sharing options within the app. Even so, as a print subscriber I mostly download the special content - such as the new digital re-release of the first issue, and the special on Steve Jobs they got out quickly last year.

Words. Art. Make.

How many words do you need to make art?

In his post Tools vs Insights, Seth G. strips down the opening lines of Fight Club, along with the verse Green Eggs and Ham. A total of two and four lines, respectively.

And taken alone out of context it is hard to see the power of those simple words. Yet put them together as the authors have, and something powerful and moving emerges. Something memorable. And yet so vastly different.

So maybe a million monkeys on typewriters could end up with Shakespeare. Or even something more moving. Why not be one of the mmmmmiiiiiiiiiillions [ht, the rock] - go create. Make a post or a poem over the weekend

My couch or your?

Wired [19.03] - finally getting rid of the stack, both the digital one in terms of drafts from (oh yeah) last year, and the paper one of old issues of Wired mag, saved for a post or two.


Main topic was a mention of couchsurfing - and the founder Casey Fenton.
The concept sounds really appealing, get around the world by hooking up with other (presumably) geeky people for a few days at a time. Even so, I think I'd personally feel more comfortable using something like aribnb - at least as a main solution, it just feels more right to spend a bit of money on the transaction.

I do love having friends over, and a spare room for those that either live out of town, or have to leave the car for a few hours. And I'd probably lend it to a friend of a friend as well, without any reservations. But beyond that? Not so sure. How about you? Where do you draw the line "in the sand"? Who and how long is OK for a house guest? Should they help with chores, do some shopping, or are they guest first and foremost?


ad for; Eee Slate Ep121 - windows7 !!??!! seriously? and a stylus to boot? Nice that it has usb, hdmi and then some, but since it is in all but name a laptop sans the keyboard I'm not really impressed. Sort of makes sense as a second device for the C-level and consultant lifestyle - if it supports MS Office fully, that is.

But I'll give Asus one thing, they keep pushing assorted form factors into the market, looking to either give the consumers a lot of choice, or just hoping to find one that sticks. But seriously - the Eee Pad range? Right ho'.



I'll be scheduling these old post up for the week ahead at the time of writing, so June of 2012 will be the most posted month for quite some time. Maybe a revival of sorts as we enter the final ten months of the first ten years (!!!).  Today it is 3-6-12, and so a good magic number for doubling up on content and ideas. in the early evening sun.

- ...and the sun shines bright enough to open the windows wide...

Time to chill - the doc said so

Stress ("Under Pressure") is a fascinating and detailed piece. (And one I had to reread to make sense of the notes here... ended up with moving it into a separate post for now) Also a short interview last year at boingboing

I think it is one of the least understood effects of the "modern" lifestyle in general, and perhaps the digital connectedness in particular. Setting boundaries, accepting lack of control, and most of inability to do, see, read or understand everything. Even everything for a small subset of things.

When I started studying computer science, there was more or less a handful of programming languages, slightly related and you could have a grasp of their different roles and constructs. Then the web exploded, bringing new languages and variations. And now it seems like just within little Javascript, there are so many different MVC type models or toolsets, that understanding them all means leaving out a lot of other areas.

But back to the article. Four interesting points to touch on:

1. meditate and training when you want it - better for stress to do it based on desire, than a rigidly fixed schedule adding pressure instead of relieving it
2. the reward is chemical - dopamine,  you get a "kick" from it. This gives a boost, thereby both making it more attractive to do it again, and enabling you to have the energy to go one more lap
3. The other way is to zone out ... and that can be done (for me at least) really laid back with a great latte. Meditating without the ceremony or strict formality. Making latte focuses the mind on the minutiae of the task at hand, the grind, the stomp, the brew, the froth. Freeing up mental energy
4. A good book or fun game can get much of the same effect; giving pure focus- stripping away the "normal" world for a dedicated session of deep engagement. Sometimes with a direct mental benefit in terms of ideas read, and sometimes just for rebooting the system

Want to dive deeply into the research and findings? Google can give you a hand:
How do glucocorticoids influence stress responses? … - Sapolsky - Cited by 2354 (PDF)

Hunch'ed up

Do you remember what you read last summer?

Well, here are some things from Wired 18.08 to jog the memories... even if by now that is the summer before last. Just goes to show, digital is almost forever.

First just a quick note - on the major piece regarding infrastructure: Iphone use 15 times more data than other subs? Even other smart phones? ATT numbers: $37 + $13.5 bn used to build the infrastructure needed. Wonder how much more it is now in 2012. And how much they've made up for it in terms of overall revenues, which will keep on coming after the network is in place.


The, the main topic:


HUNCH - was mentioned as a major part in the profile of Caterina Fake (gotta love that last name for verified online profiles).  I was planning on making some snaps from my profile, but it seems I've gone and gotten it all lost (or better, I had used Twitter initially, but probably revoked access at some time, so after reallowing I got in, but to a more Pintrest looking site. Guessing they've had time for a pivot or two in four years - even ended up as part of ebay I discovered in the Faq). So the old reflections will have to serve as a basis for now.

The main key here is social insights - the same thing that Facebook is betting the farm and then some on in terms of ads and like-mining the graph. And it is a difficult challenge to tackle, since most of the time we don't really know how or why we make our own choices.

My impressions of Hunch was that it was fun to build the basic profile, real nice use of gamification to get the answers flowing quickly. But a lot of them were very US centric in terms of topics, be it TV shows that never made it across the seas, or rituals like dances. So the overall feeling was a bit narrow in terms of recommendations, even after 182 questions answered. Heard the same about a year later from someone else.

Overall it seemed a pretty decent hit in terms of TV and magazines that I might want to look at.
Book? Not so much. Frankly hopeless compared to Amazon, and even they tend to get distracted and have a one track mind unless you go digging a bit across a set of tabs. Stuffing a large number of books onto four different wish lists has helped a bit with that.
The London TODO suggestions was abysmal - no Lonely Planet competitor to be sure. Not even on par with the free give away guidebooks from the local tourist office.

Perhaps the had some of the issues facing Wolphram Alfa going in - need a lot more raw data and basic information to populate the profiles. Either that or be bought by Facebook and assimilated - they might just have the raw data in terms of certain areas, and could quickly incentivize for more - ebay and paypal not so much, might help for discovering auctions and sellers you could connect to.


(man I miss the word count in WP... make progress so much more measurable and rewarding, even now when just dumping in the drafts to go)

oh my apple, a run-down on iBooks maker and iTunesU

ibooks author, evil incarnate because anybody can't make money outside iBookstore - or a true revolution for learning and coursebooks?

That was more or less the two sentiments raging through the blogs and twitter back when Apple launched their iBooks author software. And for once it was a subject worthy of some strong opinions here on the blog, just not musings.

First off, the student perspective.

Having spent 4.5 years with four or five courses each semester, with an eclectic mix of solid US hardcovers, printed handouts and student curated leaflets I've spent my share of time pining over the cost of new editions and hunting through used versions for fair quality ones.

Also, with out a dedicated reading space for the first two years, dragging around 500-1000 pages books, three or four at a time for that days classes takes it toll in terms of priorities every day. For study groups we actually set up a schedule - who brings which book on what day.

Apple 1 Haters 0

Then there is the year after - when you take the next class, it would sometimes be useful (especially at the start of term and before exams) to review a bit from the first book, but that meant sunk costs rather than recouping at least parts of the cost.


So, Apple has made a deal with the major text book publisher, and is pushing the price down. Way down. Talk of a max price set at $19 ???  New, normal books retail at at least three or four times that.

As an example, the MCGraw algebra book sits at $14.95 list price on iTunesU, while Amazon has a similar book at $93. The latter you can buy used and then resell while the former could be bought with volume and education discount (also sales tax free).

Imagine a student with student loans, considering getting an iPad, but needs books instead. Now every book saves the student over $40 - that adds up fast to finance the device instead. And let's face it - students want toys as well.

Apple 2 Haters 0

Then the educator perspective

The tools is free to download. You can import just about anything into it - word, pdf, code, and so on.
And anything shared directly on campus, be it in sorority, by professor or ta, or simply student groups making their own projects available - is also free, and can be distributed directly or via iBookstore / iTunesU

Apple 3 Haters 0

But... you have to have a Mac to use it. And a new one at that. And also you would probably do well with an iPad for testing the actual output as well. And the majority of educational institutions (over here at least) are like the corporations, stuck with a bunch of pc's. Of assorted age and quality. So the upfront cost could be a bummer.

Apple 3 Haters 1

Well what about the tech?

Is is all about putting things together. Not making anything that didn't already exists in some form or another.

Tools exist — they’re getting more powerful everyday — that allow us to treat digital objects as digital objects: to collect and organize them, to fashion stories from them, to turn them into bespoke devices uniquely tuned to unlocking the world’s mysteries.

And while iBooks is not the only or maybe best way to collect and enhance "other" media alongside text. Storify could do a lot of it, and a version of prezi more suited to long form text mix.ins wouldn't be all that hard. Why, all the assorted "html presentations" would be well suited to giving a structured mix of text, images, video and plug ins. So why didn't anybody else do this?

Adding annotations, and storing them. Also packaging the content for download, with a quick course guide - read this, check. Now that is usability first and foremost. And that is why Apple might be the only one who really could make this.

Apple 4 Haters 1

The output of iBooks Author is no more intended to be an industry standard than are any other Apple-proprietary document formats — Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc

Is it so strange to see that this is not all that different from Word outputting mainly Word .doc files - and actually using it's import from WP to move the market - or Microsoft XNA for Xbox live games not running all that well on a PS3?

They never said they wanted to make a new html. In order to actually move the market companies often times have to make their own solution rather than open standards. Kindle wasn't the first ebook reader by a long stretch. But it worked. Well. And it was easy enough to get books made for it and sold hassle free. While it could also read "generic" formats.

Apple 5 Haters 1

And in closing - the fine print

But the contract / terms and conditions, and the communication from Apple regarding the changes they made to clarify it? Yeah, vintage Cupertino.

Apple 5 Haters 2


And not getting worldwide deal in place, thus leaving a lot of us "out in the cold" once more? F.U publishers, studios, and assorted guilds.

Apple 5 Haters 3



Overall, big ups to Apple for moving the educational market forward, probably kicking and screaming most of the way.

Never again

XKCD Never:
 


Sometimes looking back makes for happy thoughts. And sometimes you get happier thinking about what isn't anymore.

Memory, truth or insight. We shape ourselves by our stories, and move on.

Godin goes aquatic - like an eel dodging an octupus

The starfish and the long tail have trouble getting along:

If you're a starfish, then, don't sign up with the long tail guys. Build your own universe, your own permission asset. Find a tribe, lead it, connect with it, become the short head, the one and only, the one that we'd miss if you were gone. The long tail is for organizations that own warehouses.

Great short post (as most of his are) by Seth G[1].

And what beautiful imagery, going aquatic. You don't get to meet the whale of your dreams by being a krill. Or as Cory Doctrow has put it - piracy isn't the enemy, obscurity is.*The huge number of books in Kindle version, or the number of podcasts in iTunes, the number of television channels or websites, the FB groups, pages and like-a-thons.

How can and will your content break through, connect with the readers, fans and co-creators it deserves?

Can the content stand on it's own, or does it have to be about YOU - the creator, the brand, the genius behind the mask?



* or as he quotes; Like Tim O’Reilly says, “Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.

Misty eyed

Quick post - and a bit of poetic ramblings to go on before we call it a night

Wired 19.02 had a list of terms for the underworld, or hell - and one just jumped out at me;

Mist of Darkness

2. Pet 2:17 - Guessing not a pet, but a biblical reference - so that's something to go on... and with google that was more than enough:

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.) [1]

These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

So much more vibrant than a lot of the later 'translations' of the text. It paints an image or three. Of despair. Longing and suffering. Unrest. And at the same time loss.


- ...and the sun can't follow where we are bound to go- into the darkness, and then beyond, onwards, downwards, to the other side...

Revisiting mind over matter

So it would appear that a monkey won't make all the difference.

Looking back to 2005, and the post "mind over matter" - on using sensors for tracking brain activity. And then fast forward to Wired issues 20.04 - with the telling title of the feature; "A True Bionic Limb Remains Far Out of Reach"

Turns out that the complexities involved in both measuring and responding to signals is still significant. In addition it turns out that we may have been "barking up the wrong tree" - with the brain handing off some of the signal processing and response to the spinal cord.

Keep dreaming of electric sheep...


- ...and the sun wants to break through the clouds, but is settling for less...