Commentary on technologies of reading, writing, research, and, generally, knowledge. As these technologies change and develop, what do we lose, what do we gain, what is (fundamentally or trivially) altered? And, not least, what’s fun?
By: Alan Jacobs
February 17, 2010
It’s been interesting — and somewhat disconcerting — to see the techno-ideology John Gruber has been selling since Apple announced the iPad. See this post, or this one, or the beginning of this one. Basically, Gruber is endorsing the Eloi-Morlock theory of computing experience according to which . . . well, why try to improve on,...
February 15, 2010
Since Google has apologized and reconfigured Buzz, should I perhaps accept their apology and return to my use of their products? I don’t think so, for reasons explained by Kontra: Unsure of its ability to successfully roll it out as an independent product, Google must have then decided to force feed Buzz through its Gmail user base...
February 13, 2010
So the other day I read about Google Buzz; it sounded interesting, so I clicked the link and went to the site. On that page was a brief description of Buzz and two choices: one, larger and in bright colors, said something to the effect of “Sure, I’ll try Buzz!” The other, in plain and smaller letters, said “Nah, just take me to...
February 11, 2010
Gentle readers, I had emergency surgery to remove my gall bladder yesterday and will be incapacitated for a while. I will resume blogging as soon as I am able, but don’t know when that will be. (And by the way, the past three days’ posts were written over the weekend and scheduled for later publication — I wasn’t...
February 10, 2010
Ian Jack writes, Anyone who has ever attended a literary festival will know the form. First the reading by one author or a discussion among several authors; then 15 minutes of questions from the audience; finally a few closing remarks from the moderator, ending with the important fact that Poet X or Historian Y, whom we’ve just had...
February 9, 2010
Toby Lichtig confesses — no, boasts: I am, of course, talking about defacing books – a much maligned practice of which I am a passionate disciple. My flirtation with textual mutilation started off at school with primly creased corners and pencilled underlinings, but I soon progressed to cocksure highlighting and full-blown...
February 8, 2010
Jonathan Zittrain wrote these words in his book The Future of the Internet: In the arc from the Apple II to the iPhone, we learn something important about where the Internet has been, and something more important about where it is going. The PC revolution was launched with PCs that invited innovation by others. So too with the Internet....
February 8, 2010
I thought I could post a copy of this chart by Ward Shelley, but it didn’t work out so well, so I’m just going to link to it. I put this up three days ago and scheduled it to post this morning, and oddly enough, I got an email last night asking me if I had seen Ward Shelley’s stuff. Synchronicity! — so thanks, Ben,...
February 3, 2010
Jaron Lanier’s recent book You Are Not a Gadget has gotten a good deal of play, because it’s being read as the lament of a guy who was once in the digerati vanguard now standing athwart history shouting “Stop!” Which is probably not quite right, but it makes a good story. Lanier is not skeptical about technology or even about the...
February 3, 2010
My dear friend John Wilson, editor of Books & Culture — which you should be subscribing to, by the way — called yesterday evening and asked if he could drop off something at my house. It turned out to be a copy of the brand new Oxford Companion to the Book, which I will be reviewing for B&C. Oh my goodness. I have so much...