31 janeiro 2007

ECOPOL

In this combo picture, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, with holes on his socks, is seen as he leaves from the Ottoman era Selimiye mosque in Edirne, western Turkey, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007. Wolfowitz was in turkey for a-two-day official visit. (AP Photo/Nadir Alp/Anatolia)

Who Runs The World And Controls The Value Of Assets? Today, after the conversion of Iraq to the Banklords, only five countries in the world are without a central bank: Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Cuba and Libya. All of these just happen to be on George Bush's "Evil of Axis" list. [...]
Central banks control the monetary system of the world and determine when business cycles are going to change simply by increasing or decreasing the money supply in the banking system. This small group of powerful insiders know when to sell high and buy low because they determine when the market cycle is going to change. What has just happened with oil and gold prices is an example of the power brokers who rule the world.

VITAMEDIAS



Porque é que esta coisa não vai funcionar? Porque chega com 12 anos de atraso.
Venda automática de jornais chega a Portugal: A partir de amanhã, 1 de Fevereiro, os portugueses podem passar a comprar jornais e revistas em quiosques automáticos, disponíveis 24 horas por dia, em vários espaços públicos de Lisboa.

Como é que poderá funcionar? Lê-se neste
Venda automática de jornais disponível a partir de amanhã em Lisboa: Além da venda de publicações, as máquinas da Kiosco24 podem ser adaptadas para outros produtos, como CD, DVD, livros, material escolar, folhetos de viagens ou "t-shirts".

[Aliás, no mesmo sentido, é de ler os comentários nesta fantástica "descoberta" sobre "As vantagens do VoIP"...
O modelo é o mesmo: chegamos tarde mas somos bons. Não, neste tipo de casos, não somos.
]

TECNOSFERA

Será mesmo assim? Não o poderei instalar noutra máquina? (negrito meu)
Reading Vista’s EULA sometimes helps make a decision:

13. UPGRADES. To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from.

This means that upgrading to Vista from XP voids the XP key.

TECNOSFERA

Vai Sócrates blogar? Quero dizer, aqui...
[act.: exemplo de como não se faz: não se compreende o protagonismo de marcas e empresas ao longo do sítio.]

30 janeiro 2007

ECOPOL

É compreensível, claro...
Turning Europe into a smoke-free zone: The European Union's health chief is to seek a "comprehensive ban" on smoking in public places across the group's 27 countries, he announced on Tuesday.
"At the end of the day there should be this comprehensive ban and I will be ready to defend this, not only before the health ministers, but also the finance ministers because there are also economic benefits for a country," health commissioner Markos Kyprianou said.

Commission launches public debate on the best way to promote smoke-free environments: The European Commission adopted today a Green Paper, entitled "Towards a Europe free from tobacco smoke: policy options at EU level", to launch a broad public consultation on the best way to promote smoke-free environments in the European Union.

Questions and answers on the Green Paper on a smoke-free Europe

CULTURAS IN VITRO


Developing Dubai: Dubai is the second-largest city in the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi is the biggest) but it's the most development-crazy, with comparisons to Las Vegas and early 20th-century New York. Here are some of the most stunning projects underway in the Middle East's most curious catechism to capitalism.

CULTURAS IN VITRO



Live Event LIVE NOW >>>: Watch a two-day live broadcast of Nick’s Haute Couture photographic shoot with Naomi Campbell featuring an array of the latest arrivals from the S/S '07 collections.

TECNOSFERA

Quer acabar com os irritantes "Snap preview"? Ler aqui.

29 janeiro 2007

CONTAMINANTES

Brussels drafts guide for closed world of science journals: The European Commission is preparing new guidelines for the €3 billion a year European scientific publishing industry that could put pressure on major firms such as Elsevier or Oxford University Press to give free access to articles based on EU-funded work.

"We are looking at how to find a balance between academic interests and the companies that are investing their intellectual property," a spokeswoman for science commissioner Janez Potocnik said. "One suggestion is that research can be made public six months after it is published."

TECNOFERA

US to push Europe on data deal: The US has defended its demands for up to 34 pieces of personal data from EU air passengers as essential for the fight against terror, and has indicated it wants more flexibility on how the data is used.
"We don't really collect gigantic amounts of data," US Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said at a press conference with Germany's interior minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in Berlin before the weekend. "It's about 30 information fields, things like your contact phone number and e-mail address," he said according to news agency AFP.

VITAMEDIAS

"The Role of the Blogosphere Is to Shake-Up the Mainstream Media": [Arianna Huffington,] The publisher of America's most-famous blog lashes out at the poll and political horse race-driven mainstream media, saying it'll be up to the bloggers to make coverage of the next presidential election interesting. Those same bloggers, she argues, could also spell trouble for Hillary Clinton.

VITAMEDIAS

Bill Gates is slated to be Monday night's guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," a Comedy Central representative confirmed today. For Microsoft, the appearance is part of the Windows Vista launch, but it would also make sense for Stewart to explore other topics.

The Daily Show as Substantive as Broadcast News: There was just as much substance to The Daily Show's coverage as there was on the network news.

[act.: o vídeo já está disponível ali]

28 janeiro 2007

VITAMEDIAS

E se lhe dissessem que quando liga para um jornal a corrigir um jornalista isso pode ser... tornado público?
Correct Me If I'm Wrong...: "Pilotless Drone"

TECNOSFERA

Para os fãs das audiências:
Modern Day Bully

CONTAMINANTES

Atrasado mas ainda a tempo - chama-se McNaught, cometa McNaught, ou o grande cometa de 2007:
Michal Kaluzny took this photo of Comet McNaught over Poland, Leszno on Jan. 10, 2007. He writes “I took this photo today at 5 pm local time--just after the sunset. The comet is fabulous. It is very bright and beautiful. I took several photos, and on one of them I managed to photograph a flock birds.”

Amazing Comet Visible in Broad Daylight:

26 janeiro 2007

CULTURAS IN VITRO


O Centro de Artes de Sines dos arquitectos Manuel Aires Mateus, Francisco Aires Mateus/Aires Mateus e Associados é um dos sete nomeados para o Prémio de Arquitectura Contemporânea da União Europeia.

TECNOSFERA

A voz e as ideias, o silêncio.

VITAMEDIAS

911 Calls in North Dakota Town Reveal Dangers of Media Consolidation: Five years ago this week a train derailed in Minot, North Dakota leaking thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the air. One person died and hundreds were treated for immediate health problems. The city’s six non-religious commercial radio stations – all owned by Clear Channel – never aired warnings for local residents.

TECNOSFERA

Calculating The ROI Of Blogging: A Case Study - A Look At The ROI Of General Motors' FastLane Blog

ZITE

Paper Toilet

ZITE

The Smart or Stoopid test is purely meant to be a fun quiz to see how your IQ rates alongside the average, based on the scores of other people who have taken the test. Naturally, only stupid people would take it as a true indicator of intelligence, and only intelligent people would take it as a true indicator of stupidity. Or something like that.

TECNOSFERA


MugMouse is a simple, playful idea, using your coffee mug as computer mouse.

CONTAMINANTES

Isto é que é sequestro, certo?
Hospital keeps baby until parents pay: An Indonesian clinic is keeping a baby until his poor parents pay the bill for his delivery

TECNOSFERA

Web 2.0 in Portugal: sem comentários

25 janeiro 2007

CULTURAS IN VITRO

(via)

CULTURAS IN VITRO

A ler: CRU A

VITAMEDIAS

Podia ser uma forma de feitiço contra feiticeiro mas não é, eu não ajo assim. E para memória futura minha, explico:

Sofia Piçarra, "redactora" do "A Cabra", propôs uma entrevista a 9 de Janeiro para "um artigo sobre os blogues de media portugueses". Depois de lhe explicar que já tinha publicado as minhas ideias aqui e recentemente aqui, insistiu e eu aceitei com "uma simples condicionante: terá de me enviar o texto após a sua publicação (ou o link para o texto). Se concordar, pode usar as minhas respostas". (o negrito é meu)

Hoje descubro que o texto foi publicado a 16 de Janeiro e ainda nada recebi da senhora (eu sei que o mail nem sempre funciona mas...), sob o título "Blogues acima dos media" (pág. 18).

Enfim, a co-autora do texto não só me denomina de professor (o que é mentira e prefigura outorgação de título que não detenho) como, o que não é normal, me lançou 15 perguntas para apenas usar parte de uma. Perda de tempo do lado dela e meu? Exagero? Talvez, mas nada se perde. Aqui vão as nossas perguntas e respostas (não editadas):

- Há quanto tempo existe o blog ContraFactos e Argumentos?
O CF&A existiu inicialmente como newsletter partilhada entre amigos e amigos de amigos desde Fevereiro de 2002. A partir de Setembro desse ano passou a blogue.

- Porquê a opção de um blog e não um site?
Na altura, não fazia sentido ter um site porque a ferramenta de criação dos blogues (nomeadamente o Blogger) já facilitava a disponibilização de conteúdos na Net. O que me interessava eram os textos, não a complicação da tecnologia para criar um site.

- Qual a importância dos blogs de media e tecnologia nestes campos em Portugal?
No lado dos media, foram e são dos mais críticos sobre a sua profissão - porque a conhecem e reconhecem os erros de alguns dos seus pares. Estão mais à vontade para levantar questões sobre o exercício da profissão, tal como para questionar certos blogues - nomeadamente políticos - sobre "agendas escondidas".
No campo da tecnologia, os blogues reproduzem muito o que se encontra em sites
estrangeiros. Não é bom nem mau porque por vezes é dada uma forte visão nacional sobre o tema - o que nem sempre ocorre nos media portugueses.

- Considera que existe um circuito muito reduzido de leitores destes blogs, que acabam por verificar-se serem também autores de blogs do mesmo género, com
referências cruzadas entre si?
De quais? DOs media e tecnlogia? Tem a ver com os interesses de cada um. É normal que jornalistas tendam a ler blogues de jornalistas; que interessados em tecnologia leiam blogues sobre tecnologia. Quem tem blogues, naturalemnte cita estes blogues mas com uma vantagem: também cita blogues de autores estrangeiros. A Web, nestes casos, alarga os horizontes informativos e dilui as fronteiras de acesso à informação.

- Os blogs de media ajudam o cidadão comum a desconstruir a informação que tem ao seu dispôr?
Ajudam. Podiam fazê-lo ainda mais mas poderiam também cair no exagero de divulgar informação da empresa onde trabalham. Como qualquer funcionário, estão sujeitos ao sigilo sobre a empresa e, de forma muito mais sensível, ao sigilo sobre as fontes.
No geral, os blogues de media ajudaram a divulgar - e a potenciar um criticismo sobre - as diversas facetas da actividade jornalística. Nenhuma outra actividade profissional o fez nos blogues com tanta clareza - passe a imodéstia...

- Considera que tornam o consumidor de informação mais exigente?
Sim e ainda bem. Um leitor, ouvinte, telespectador exigente é o que de melhor pode acontecer à actividade jornalística. Exigente não é ser chato: é saber questionar - o que, na sua essência, é aquilo que os jornalistas devem fazer.

- Que tipo de liberdade permite o blog em relação ao trabalho enquanto jornalista?
São diferentes.
No caso do CF&A, nunca tive qualquer problema de "liberdade" porque muito raramente misturo o que escrevo no blogue com coisas que publico.
Também é verdade que escrevo ou cito certas coisas no blogue que, quanto a mim, faziam sentido serem publicadas mas para as quais não tenho tempo de as trabalhar ou espaço nos medias.
Não tenho, pessoalmente, problemas desse tipo de "liberdade".
Se a pergunta visa saber se há mais liberdade no que se escreve, tenho iguais dúvidas. O jornalista pode ser mais opinativo num blogue do que no meio para o qual escreve? Pode. Deve? Então é porque algo está mal no meio de comunicação social para o qual colabora.

- No caso dos jornalistas, o blog permite a liberdade de escrever o que não é permitido no jornal?
Repito: se isso acontece, "é porque algo está mal no meio de comunicação social para o qual colabora".

- Quando um blog se torna uma referência e o seu autor conhecido, e é convidado para surgir ligado a um jornal, como é o caso dos blogs dos jornalistas do Expresso, ou do Ponto e Media, no Público, a tão apregoada liberdade da blogosfera não se torna uma falsa questão?
A questão está errada: esses jornalistas já o eram antes de terem os blogues - eles não foram convidados para serem jornalistas. Alguns "bloggers" - após sucesso dos seus blogues - foram convidados para serem colunistas, escreverem opinião. É diferente.
Nada disto tem a ver com a "liberdade da blogosfera" - seja lá o que isto quer dizer. Qualquer pessoa pode ter um blogue e, se tiver alguma qualidade, ser cativada a escrever para um meio de comunicação social. Nesse sentido, os blogues vieram alargar o leque de potenciais jornalistas ou "opinion makers". Ainda bem.

- No desempenho das suas funções profissionais, já recorreu a um blog como fonte de informação?
Claro. Não fonte única mas como base de trabalho.

- Em Portugal, a bibliografia de media é ainda muito reduzida. Considera que a blogosfera pode ser uma fonte útil e segura de recolha de informação para quem se dedica ao estudo dos media?
Sim mas não única.

- Quais são, para si, os blogs na área dos media de maior referência a nível nacional e internacional?
Não digo. Tal como não encontra no CF&A uma lista de blogues que leio, não gosto de dizer quais são os meus preferidos porque eles variam. É como ler o Público, o DN, o JN, o CM ou outro jornal: há dias que gostamos mais de um do que de outro. Não há qualquer diferença sobre isso quanto aos blogues: num dia gosto mais de uns, noutro sou mais sensível a outros.

- Os blogs de media nacionais produzem conteúdos originais, ou são uma imitação dos blogs internacionais?
É um misto: uns são originais, outros (não é imitação mas) ligam a informação internacional.

- À medida que ganha visibilidade e adeptos, o blog não se torna uma dependência para o autor? Sente a obrigação de actualizar conteúdos diariamente, para corresponder às expectativas dos leitores?
Depende de cada autor. Presumo que no início essa "obrigação" exista - razão
pela qual algumas pessoas desistem rapidamente de escrever em blogues - mas
com o tempo cada um adapta-se ao que quer para o seu blogue.
E não, não sinto nem nunca senti essa obrigação de corresponder ao que os leitores queriam. O blogue é meu, faço o que quero dele - e isso inclui a sua actualização. Não é desrespeito pelos leitores, é respeito por mim próprio.

- Partilha da opinião que a blogosfera vai ditar a morte dos jornais e substitui-los?
Não, basta ler o que escrevi para o I Encontro sobre weblogues em Portugal.
Ainda não mudei de opinião.

- Os blogs são uma tendência passageira, ou vieram para ficar?
Vieram para ficar mas não com o formato e modelo actuais. a Evolução tecnológica vai levá-los a serem outra coisa. O quê? Também eu gostava de saber.

(Perceberam entretanto que interessa é ler o texto d'A Cabra, onde há respostas bem mais interessantes :-)

VITAMEDIAS

Duas notas sobre a actualidade:

1) se hoje tivesse de responder ao inquérito do Miniscente, a pergunta "Qual foi o acontecimento (nacional ou internacional) que mais intensamente seguiu apenas através de blogues?" teria de ser reformulada para incluir o caso da bébé E. (porque é que ninguém agora e num caso desta dimensão se preocupa em ocultar o(s) nome(s) da criança?)
A reviravolta partiu daqui.

2) ainda o Luís Carmelo mas agora sobre o seu novo romance "E Deus pegou-me pela cintura". Alguns alinharam na sua divulgação, outros questionaram, outros opuseram-se frontalmente a esta manobra publicitária. Apenas um apontamento: o autor, inteligentemente, bloqueou qualquer divulgação da sua estratégia quando enviou um mail a algumas pessoas (infelizmente não desejado, de publicidade e só depois de ter enviado um outro sob o nome falso do personagem do romance) com estas palavras: "Estas informações são confidenciais (...)". E assim condicionou qualquer revelação sobre a sua estratégia. Brilhante?

VITAMEDIAS

Absolutamente excepcional (a ver enquanto não cai em segredo de justiça :)), esta audição do PGR na AR, em 16 de Janeiro de 2007

Título? "Uma vergonha" (via "só visto")

ECOPOL

SOTU Words
Here are some results for Bush's previous SOTU speeches:
* February 27, 2001: 4,367 words, with a grade level of 8.7. Top word was "budget" (26 times)
* January 29, 2002: 3,829 words, with a grade level of 9.9. Top word was "America" (33 times)
* January 28, 2003: 5,364 words, with a grade level of 10.2. Top word was "weapons" (27 times)
* January 20, 2004: 5,169 words, with a grade level of 10.1. Top word was "America" (31 times)
* February 2, 2005: 5,053 words, with a grade level of 11.5. Top word was "security" (29 times)
* January 31, 2006: 5,321 words with a grade level of 10.8. Top word was "America" (31 times)
* January 23, 2007: 5,321 words, with a grade level of 10.8. Top word was "America" (38 times)

Curiosidade: o mesmo número de palavras no discurso em dois anos diferentes, com a mesma palavra a liderar...

ECOPOL

50 Fun Facts About Credit Cards: I broke the fun facts into these general categories: Historical Nuggets (with subcategories for each major card company), Useful Things That Make You Go Hmmmm…, Technobabbliciousness, Legal Ways You’ve Been Hosed & Un-Hosed, and Department of Holy Crap They Make A Ton of $$$$$.

VITAMEDIAS

À atenção dos interessados na televisão digital terrestre
Commission endorses subsidies for digital decoders in Italy, but only where technology-neutral: The European Commission has decided that subsidies for digital decoders granted by Italy in 2006 do not violate EC Treaty state aid rules (Article 87(1)) as they are offered for all decoders, regardless of the transmission platforms, are therefore technology-neutral and proportionate to the objective of promoting the transition to digital TV and to interoperability. However, the Commission has also decided that subsidies provided in 2004 and 2005 are incompatible under the state aid rules as they were not technology-neutral and created an undue distortion of competition by excluding satellite technology

TECNOSFERA

Blogging bosses: Should chief executives blog? The late adopters had better decide soon, because the World Economic Forum is encouraging blogging by bigwigs as part of its annual meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland.

24 janeiro 2007

VITAMEDIAS

TV is dying? Long live TV! Despite (or because of) the Web, we watch more television than ever.

TECNOSFERA

Tag, You're It: Scientists Describe Collaborative Tagging Sites like Del.icio.us: Their model exemplifies two primary aspects of user behavior: preferential attachment and aging of resources. Preferential attachment can also be described as a copying attitude. [Ciro] Cattuto, who performed the research with Vittorio Loreto and Luciano Pietronero, offers the example of linking to a photo or article about New York City. The person posting the link can tag the item in several ways, a few of which are "nyc," "newyork_city," or newyork. The choices of previous del.icio.us users, however, are likely to influence the next group of users. "There is pressure, in essence," Cattuto explains, "because if you use tags that are already widespread within the system, people are able to find your entries—so, using popular tags makes your content findable and makes you more visible."

The aging of resources effect follows a previous finding by complex network researcher Albert-László Barabási of the University of Notre Dame, which found that information stays fresh on the Web for only about 36 to 48 hours. Similarly, the researchers found that users on collaborative tagging sites would likely prefer recently added tags to older ones. [...]

Now, that the team has a model for how tags behave through association with other words, Barabási says, they can ask the question: "Will a tag get oversaturated and become meaningless or will it grow indefinitely?"

ECOPOL

Para analisar em mais detalhe o discurso do Estado da União: aqui e aqui.
Ciência, por exemplo, passou de sete referências em 2006 para apenas uma este ano.

CULTURAS IN VITRO

On Space Art in Sebastopol... (Space Invaders no Google Earth)

ECOPOL

Lobbying backlash could hit bloggers: certain political bloggers who make or spend $25,000 per quarter and who encourage readers to contact their elected representatives would be forced to register as lobbyists--or face up to 10 years in prison.

Bloggers Would Be Lobbyists vs. Bloggers would not be lobbyists

23 janeiro 2007

VITAMEDIAS

Online News Credibility: An Examination of the Perceptions of Newspaper Journalists
Abstract: This study examines print and online daily newspaper journalists' perceptions of the credibility of Internet news information, as well as the influence of several factors—most notably, professional role conceptions—on those perceptions. Credibility was measured as a multidimensional construct. The results of a survey of U.S. journalists (N=655) show that Internet news information was viewed as moderately credible overall and that online newspaper journalists rated Internet news information as significantly more credible than did print newspaper journalists. Hierarchical regression analyses reveal that Internet reliance was a strong positive predictor of credibility. Two professional role conceptions also emerged as significant predictors. The populist mobilizer role conception was a significant positive predictor of online news credibility, while the adversarial role conception was a significant negative predictor. Demographic characteristics of print and online daily newspaper journalists did not influence their perceptions of online news credibility.

ECOPOL


Guerilla Advertising

ZITE

Get a First Life
Total Residents: 6,553,628,382
Born Today: 364,936
Died Today: 152,029
Pants Purchased: 27,021
TV Hours Watched: 82,124,102,305

TECNOSFERA

An interesting offer: get paid to contribute to Wikipedia
So I was a little surprised to receive email a couple of days ago from Microsoft saying they wanted to contract someone independent but friendly (me) for a couple of days to provide more balance on Wikipedia concerning ODF/OOXML. I am hardly the poster boy of Microsoft partisanship! Apparently they are frustrated at the amount of spin from some ODF stakeholders on Wikipedia and blogs.

CULTURAS IN VITRO


POLISH MOVIE POSTERS: While most movie posters in the United States pretty much showcase the standard corporate style imagery to hawk the film, the fine folks in Poland have a brilliant dramatic license when marketing Hollywood's finest in their country, resulting in some of the most brilliantly surreal and amazing pieces of movie artwork ever created. Some of them are obvious, some seem to be crazy nonsequiters that have nothing to do with the original picture, while others seem to change the focus of the movie altogether.

VITAMEDIAS

Uma boa questão, destes "Muros de silêncio":

"Há dias atrás, noticiaram os órgãos de comunicação social que Luisão, um conhecido jogador de futebol, foi apanhado pela Polícia a conduzir com excesso de álcool. A notícia foi repetida até à exaustão e creio que até foi debatida em mesa-redonda na TV.
Neste sábado, pode ler-se, na pág. 26 do DN, 'Juiz condenado por conduzir com álcool'.
Lida toda a notícia, verifiquei com espanto que na mesma não constava o nome do juiz, que até é conselheiro e jubilado!"

Porquê? Neste caso, a culpa não é da jornalista...

.DE!

Só no Japão?


E ainda outra, que não do Japão:

22 janeiro 2007

ECOPOL

Já tem alguns dias mas não percebo como se despacha uma coisa e se faz outra... (negrito meu)
Funções dirigentes no privado incompatíveis com SNS: O exercício efectivo de funções de coordenação e direcção, independentemente da sua natureza jurídica, em instituições privadas prestadoras de cuidados de saúde por profissionais pertencentes a instituições integradas no Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS) sujeitos ou não ao regime da Administração Pública, deve ser sempre considerado incompatível.
Médicos: privado sim, mas com condições
Ministro recua e deixa médicos do público chefiarem privado (via Afinal, não era uma questão de incompatibilidade com o interesse público?)

17 janeiro 2007

ECOPOL

5 Minutes to Midnight: We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices. North Korea’s recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a renewed U.S. emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia are symptomatic of a larger failure to solve the problems posed by the most destructive technology on Earth. [...]
The Clock is ticking.

VITAMEDIAS

Former Daily Express and FT Weekend editor Richard Addis is launching a free daily newspaper at the end of March, targeting high-worth Londoners with arts, leisure and current affairs content. [...]
Newsstand will commission some articles, including comment, but will rely on third-party deals for much of its content. “We are looking to approach flourishing websites that have no print arm and strike deals to use their content. They get free distribution and reach all of the people we deliver to, and we get high-quality content,” Addis said.

TECNOSFERA

Do Away With HTML Based E-mail: Most e-mail software comes configured to relay messages both in text-only mode and HTML format, which allows for the rendering of graphics and other Web-based content. But blindly accepting HTML content from third parties is a bad idea on a number of levels. The most dangerous threat is HTML content that enables the silent downloading of malicious software. In addition, even if you've never replied to a single piece of junk e-mail, spammers can tell if they've got a working e-mail address if you merely view one of their HTML-based e-mail ads. [...]
Likewise, sending e-mail in HTML mode is just a bad idea all around, and these days, it's a recipe for making sure the messages you send get caught in the recipient's junk mail folders. That's because in an effort to bypass anti-spam technologies that look for spammy words in the body of the e-mail, a huge percentage of spam now arrives embedded in HTML code and in images.

16 janeiro 2007

TECNOSFERA

Keeping it real about virtual living: Howard Rheingold

VITAMEDIAS

Media pluralism: Commission stresses need for transparency, freedom and diversity in Europe's media landscape
Responding to continuing concerns from the European Parliament and non-governmental organisations about media concentration, and its possible effects on pluralism and freedom of expression, Commissioner Viviane Reding and Vice-President Margot Wallström – presented today to fellow Commissioners three-steps on media pluralism in the European Union. [...]
The 'Reding-Wallström' approach, as presented today to the Commission, has three steps:

1. A Commission Staff Working Paper on Media Pluralism (presented already today [análise sobre Portugal a partir da página 72]). It outlines efforts to promote pluralism by third parties and organisations, notably the essential work undertaken by the Council of Europe, and has a concise first survey of Member States' audiovisual and print media markets. This baseline analysis also includes information on national media ownership regulations and the very diverse regulatory models of the 27 Member States.

1. An independent study on media pluralism in EU Member States to define and test concrete and objective indicators for assessing media pluralism in the EU Member States (in 2007).
2. A Commission Communication on the indicators for media pluralism in the EU Member States (in 2008), on which a broad public consultation will take place. This could lead to an evaluation of the opportunity for applying the media pluralism indicators, for example through a further study.

TECNOSFERA

Mouvement pour une AlterBlogosphère:
* Une grande partie, enfin, et c'est le point principal, des blogueurs influents sont des vieux.
C'est ce qui est le plus frappant. Des trentenaires, quadragénaires, professeurs, avocats, directeurs, consultants, marketeurs : ils sont sympa, mais la génération internet, ce n'est pas eux. Ils n'ont pas plus de légitimité que les centaines de milliers de skyblogueurs dont ils se gaussent. Ils se présentent comme les "barons du web", mais eux n'ont pas grandi avec l'outil Internet, ne l'ont pas apprivoisé, ne sont pas nés sous son étoile. Ils s'y sont adaptés, tant bien que mal.

La blogosphère est viciée. Ceux qui en trustent les hautes marches sont des gens qui n'ont pas construit leur réputation par le net mais grâce à leurs réseaux et leurs compétences réelles : tel avocat, tel économiste, tel pédégé.

Il faut lancer un mouvement pour une alterblogosphère : ni vieux, ni techno-libéral, ni geek ; l'alterblogueur pourrait privilégier une nouvelle façon de bloguer, et créer une blogosphère parallèle à celle des barons du web. Une blogosphère qui refuserait (et se moquerait de) leur système circulaire d'autocongratulation et d'autopromotion, de copinage et d'effets de club : en se linkant les uns les autres en permanence, en s'invitant aux mêmes conférences, en relayant leurs initiatives, ils noyautent la blogosphère.
(Obrigado, Mário)

ECOPOL


A Nuclear Power Renaissance
With concerns about global warming and energy security on the rise, countries the world over are taking a new look at nuclear energy. Some are building new reactors as fast as they can. [...]
Currently there are 435 atomic reactors generating electricity in 31 countries across the globe. They fill 6.5 percent of the world's total energy demand and use close to 70,000 tons of enriched uranium per year. Atomic plants produce one-sixth of the total electricity supply -- roughly on par with hydropower.
That number may soon rocket upwards. At present, 29 nuclear power plants are under construction and there are concrete plans to build another 64. Another 158 are under consideration. On the other end of the equation, only six are slowly being shut down in preparation for decommissioning.

[Ainda na Der Spiegel, a ler este "The Polish Church's Secret Past": For the last 17 years the Catholic Church, once known as a major bulwark against communism, managed to cover up its cooperation with the Polish communist-era secret police. But now, with fresh allegations of former spies within the country's church leadership, the floodgates have been opened.]

VITAMEDIAS

Radio competes against downloads, file-sharing, satellite broadcasts: Although iPod remains a four-letter word to many in the radio business, the top podcast on the iTunes chart, week after week, is a radio show: "This American Life," the weekly syndicated public radio show hosted by Ira Glass. It's a sign that radio, instead of fighting the competition from online and satellite radio, is adopting the same tools to serve -- and keep -- its listeners. [...]
Younger listeners are using cell phones as the new request line connection, text-messaging song requests to their favorite radio stations instead of phoning them in. Some cell phone companies now offer the capability to see a radio station's recent playlist, download audio or take part in contests.
A terrestrial station's cyberspace presence has become an important programming tool.

CULTURAS IN VITRO


The Girlfriend Experience: Multi-player game with avatars of flesh and blood
Martin Butler presents four human avatars to play with. Log in at home with your character of choice. Direct the avatar, explore the space and challenge him or her.

15 janeiro 2007

TECNOFERA

Carris quer videovigilância em toda a frota até 2008: A Carris quer instalar até 2008 sistemas de videovigilância em mais 370 autocarros e eléctricos, para aumentar a segurança dos utentes e tripulantes, e colocar mais 150 painéis electrónicos de informação nas paragens, anunciou a empresa em comunicado [ainda não disponível online].
Com a instalação do equipamento, toda a frota da Carris, composta por 800 veículos, ficará equipada com este sistema, num investimento superior a um milhão de euros. [...]
Para "melhorar a informação acessível ao cliente nas paragens", a empresa adjudicou a instalação de 150 novos painéis electrónicos, um processo que deverá estar concluído em Julho.
Os novos 150 equipamentos vêm juntar-se aos 200 painéis já existentes e representam um investimento de 1,2 milhões de euros.

VITAMEDIAS

No que dá escrever notícias em antecipação e como se reclama dos "perigos do debate online"...: Journalist suffers bloggers' ire: The perils of online debate were laid bare yesterday when the Daily Telegraph pulled a blog by its US editor after his confession to writing a news story about Saddam Hussein's hanging before the event had taken place resulted in abusive messages from readers.
For the last three days, Toby Harnden, one of the newspaper's senior correspondents, has been subjected to an onslaught of criticism from readers of his blog after it emerged a news piece, which was published in the Daily Telegraph, was littered with inaccuracies, including the claim that Saddam was wearing a hood when he died. Harnden said that, due to the time difference between Washington and Baghdad, he had to prepare his report on the hanging before the event took place.

14 janeiro 2007

TECNOSFERA

At a Loss for Words

12 janeiro 2007

TECNOSFERA

Google's Blogger Hit By Huge Influx of Redirect Spam
January 2007 Update On Google Indexing & Ranking Issues
Google Blog Search's People Search Spam Problem

TECNOSFERA

A OPA da Sonaecom à PT vista pela The Economist: Peninsular campaign - What the battle for Portugal Telecom says about business in Iberia

CONTAMINANTES

Lembram-se desta história cronológica do 1 por cento (afinal, ainda só passaram quase 20 anos...)? A história continua:

Research & Development in the EU: preliminary results
Portugal (R&D intensity, R&D expenditure as % of GDP):
2001: 0.80
2004: 0.77 (previsão)
2005: 0.81 (previsão)

Portugal (Annual average growth rate in real terms (%) 2001-2005):
0.4

Characterisation of research systems and policies: The Portuguese R&D situation is characterised by a significant dualism. While academic science has been advancing rapidly over recent decades, the private sector has been lagging behind.

VITAMEDIAS

Assim não é difícil prever tendências...
"O grupo Impresa, de Francisco Pinto Balsemão, comunicou ontem à Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (CMVM) a aquisição de 67% no capital social da New Media, empresa especializada na gestão e aquisição de conteúdos digitais, num investimento cifrado em 474 mil euros. [...]
De recordar que nos últimos meses a Impresa tem estado bastante activa em termos de aquisições. Em Agosto a empresa entrou no capital da AdTech, empresa de criação, implementação e gestão de canais multimédia, que passou a controlar no mês de Setembro. No início de Outubro foi a vez do grupo adquirir a totalidade da editora Som Livre, num negócio que ascendeu os dois milhões de euros. Já em Novembro foi a vez da Impresa comprar 50,1% da AEIOU, S.A. (empresa detentora do portal com o mesmo nome), num investimento de 1,25 milhões de euros."
Da Meios e Publicidade (acesso sob registo).

ECOPOL

Nem Bud? Lá se vai a boa publicidade...
European court rules Anheuser-Busch cannot sell 'Budweiser' beer in Portugal: American brewer Anheuser-Busch cannot sell beer under the brand name Budweiser in Portugal, the highest chamber of Europe's human rights court ruled Thursday, in the latest round of a global legal battle between the U.S. beer giant and Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar.

The U.S. brewery lost its fight against a 2001 decision by Portugal's Supreme Court, which ruled that Budejovicky Budvar had the right to use the brand name under a 1986 treaty between the Czech Republic and Portugal.

Anheuser-Busch had argued that the decision violated its rights to the "peaceful enjoyment" of the trademark. It said the Portuguese ruling infringed Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees individuals and companies protection of property.

CULTURAS IN VITRO

Which of the following works would you choose to be lost, if only three could be saved: Michelangelo's Pieta, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Mozart's Don Giovanni, or Einstein's 1905 paper on relativity.

Eu optava pela Pietà, lamento.

11 janeiro 2007

VITAMEDIAS

A incompetência também se vê por este tipo de coisas (e a culpa, claro, é da informática...):
8 de Janeiro (17h56m): emissão da Newsletter nº1 da ERC, com data de Dezembro de 2006: "Bem- Vindos à primeira edição da Newsletter mensal da ERC - Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social!
Neste espaço poder-se-ão manter informados sobre as actividades e deliberações tornadas públicas pelo Conselho Regulador, ao longo do último mês";

8 de Janeiro (19h53m): Correcção à Newsletter, acrescentando uma ligação para o "Relatório da Cobertura Jornalística de Incêndios";

11 de Janeiro (19h10m): "A Direcção Executiva da Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social vem por este meio esclarecer todos os que receberam, a 8 de Janeiro, a "Newsletter" prevista no seu sítio electrónico, que aquela era uma versão experimental, em fase ainda embrionária de desenvolvimento pelos nossos serviços, e cujo envio se ficou a dever a um bug originado na aplicação informática utilizada.
A publicação do primeiro número oficial da Newsletter da ERC relativo a Janeiro de 2007, de periodicidade mensal, está prevista para a primeira semana do mês de Fevereiro.
Com os melhores cumprimentos"

TECNOSFERA

Plano Tecnológico para quê? Formação em informática? Basta um ano, um mês... (negrito meu)
Mais quatro programas informáticos usados para enganar o Fisco: A polícia judiciária e a Inspecção Tributária detectaram pelo menos mais de quatro programas informáticos para contabilidade na restauração que terão associados métodos para adulterar a facturação e assim fugir ao pagamento de impostos.

Dos comentários: "Só agora é que se descubriu que existe a burla?
Por: Faria [ 2007-01-11 03:08 ]
Lamento que só agora, as autoridades destes país medíocre, tenham detectado esta fraude.... Eu, trabalhei 1ano numa grande cadeia de restauração muito conheçida por todos os PORTUGUESES, em que o programa utilizado para fazer registos é o famoso WinRest.... Nesse ano em que trabalhei, em muito pouco tempo aprendi tudo sobre o programa... É mesmo muito facil fazer a burla! Quem sao os senhores que detectaram a fraude? Quantos anos andam atrasados? Andam a dormir? Teem algum tipo de formação de informática? Eu em 1mese apercebi-me logo... Lamento é que os lucros da tal empresa subam, batendo recordes de facturação todos os anos, e fugindo descaradamente ao fisco....e pagando mal, muito mal aos funcionarios... Por isso acho normal que se fuja aos impostos...
O que interessa neste país é o lucro facil e imediato a todo o custo! Ha que por um travão a isto se não, os grandes comem de vez os pequenos."

TECNOSFERA

O New York Times oferece a possibilidade de aceder a informação sobre palavras utilizadas nos seus artigos. A explicação, em inglês: "To find reference information about the words used in this article, hold down the ALT key and click on any word, phrase or name. A new window will open with a dictionary definition or encyclopedia entry". Interessante.

P.S.: Descobri isto através do artigo
"The Imperial Presidency 2.0" traduzido em parte por Ana Gomes (e sem link para o texto original) no Causa Nossa.
Ah, se esta mulher se empenhasse em explicar a posição portuguesa na votação dos eurodeputados portugueses sobre a intercepção de dados nas telecomunicações como o faz com os voos da CIA, este seria um país bem melhor e mais atento...

TECNOSFERA

O "motto" do Aspirina B é "Leia, mostre aos amigos, emoldure. E, já que aqui está, diga qualquer coisinha".
Já que ali estive, digo aqui uma coisinha: este apelo é uma tanga. Bastava ler o Público de hoje: Falso pedido de sangue circula na Internet e telemóveis há dois anos.
Bastava ter telefonado para os dois números de telefone para ver que estavam desligados.
Bastava ter um pouco de bom senso para saber que este tipo de histórias se arrastam há anos e alguns blogues, mal lhes sopram na orelha, publicam estas coisas.
Não ajudam em nada - pelo contrário, descredibilizam os verdadeiros apelos que possam surgir. E descredibilizam-se, claro.

VITAMEDIAS

A abrutalhar se dizem as verdades - essa é que é essa sobre "O problema" (uma resposta): Este efeito de transparência [a blogosfera tem sobre os jornalistas que nela participam um (saudável) efeito de transparência] não parece no entanto aplicar-se à maior parte dos blogueiros não-jornalistas (ou não-políticos) que leio. Parece que o exercício da cidadania blogosférica pelas pessoas que antes dos blogues não tinham opinião publicada implica, inquestionável e automaticamente, um atestado de santidade civica. Raramente vi algum fazer uma declaração de interesses substantiva sobre as suas relações (económicas, nomeadamente) com aquilo que escrevem. . O escrutínio, aqui, só tem um sentido.

TECNOFERA



A coisa [continua] preta: Polícia vai vigiar pessoas através do telemóvel sem autorização de um juiz: as polícias poderão accionar este meio, por iniciativa própria, sempre que esteja em risco a vida de uma pessoa ou a sua integridade física. Depois, terão 48 horas para comunicar a um juiz a realização da diligência.

CULTURAS IN VITRO


Table clock Book.
Karlsson design.

VITAMEDIAS

Ideias para artigos jornalísticos retiradas de blogues, sem qualquer referência:
The Guardian vs. Ironic Sans

VITAMEDIAS

Too Casual To Sit on Press Row?
When the trial of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice opens next week, scores of journalists are expected to throng the federal courtroom in Washington, far too many for the 100 seats set aside for the media.
But for the first time in a federal court, two of these seats will be reserved for bloggers. After two years of negotiations with judicial officials across the country, the Media Bloggers Association, a nonpartisan group with about 1,000 members working to extend the powers of the press to bloggers, has won credentials to rotate among his members. The trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the highest-ranking Bush administration official to face criminal charges, could "catalyze" the association's efforts to win respect and access for bloggers in federal and state courthouses, said Robert Cox, the association's president.

ZITE

Ideias

TECNOSFERA

The iPhone: a Naomi Campbell of a product (ou porque é que o iPhone vai tardar a chegar à Europa)
Being an exclusive Cingular product is the best way for Apple to get a decent subsidy: Cingular will be hoping that customers will switch networks just to get the handset, and once they've done so they'll be tied to Cingular for 2 years. Steve is planning on shifting 10m devices in the next 12 months, which is going to mean making deals with more operators unless one in five Cingular customers is going to make the switch.
Doing the same deal in Europe will be much more difficult: European operators have invested heavily in 3G (W-CDMA) networks, and MMS, so to sign an exclusive deal for a non-3G handset which doesn't support MMS would be political suicide; effectively saying that 3G and MMS weren't worth having. If they manage a 3G version of the iPhone then that problem could disappear (and an MMS client shouldn't be a serious problem), but if it drives up the cost then the problem doesn't go away.

[act.: Rumor: 3G iPhone Coming, I Phone vai chegar ao mercado português a tempo da época de Natal]

CULTURAS IN VITRO


Portrait of Paula Rego by Eamonn McCabe (detail)

Paula Rego em entrevista fala das suas "abortion pictures".

09 janeiro 2007

TECNOSFERA


Pronto, já chegou:
Apple unveils cell phone, Apple TV - Company renamed Apple Inc. to reflect focus on consumer electronics (com vídeo da apresentação de Steve Jobs)
Apple Unveils New Mobile Phone

CULTURAS IN VITRO

Express yourself

CULTURAS IN VITRO

'Plutoed' ["to demote or devalue someone or something"] is 2006 word of the year - The American Dialect Society has spoken

08 janeiro 2007

TECNOSFERA

O Sapo Vídeo deve estar todo contente, poucos dias depois do seu lançamento, por apresentar o enforcamento de "Saddam Hussein completo !!!!" (sem link, claro!).

O YouTube também o faz mas alerta: "This video may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTube's user community. To view this video, please verify you are 18 or older by logging in or signing up."

O Sapo é bom porque apresenta "(...) o documento histórico do enforcamento deste ditador Um EXCLUSIVO dos Videos Sapo ;)"

Ou seja, o Sapo apresenta um "exclusivo" que já correu a Internet e quando ainda não se ouviu a empresa querer processar quem a copiou (ironia subjacente para quem não perceber). Tanto mais com um "documento histórico" que está a provocar mortes de crianças.

Belíssima entrada no mundo do vídeo na Web. E ainda só passaram duas semaninhas desde o seu nascimento...

ECOPOL

O Blasfémias descobriu a "Prova de como alguns governos europeus colaboram no interrogatório de suspeitos de terrorismo à margem das leis e os entregam a países onde há tortura" ou as "Provas de que Ana Gomes é agente da CIA", entre "Pactos de silêncio" e "PACHORRA (falta de)".
Para quem pretende saber como o assunto está a afectar outros países, pode acompanhar este "European Parliament inquiry (TDIP) on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners - documents and reports". Está lá muita informação sobre os chamados "voos da CIA".

CULTURAS IN VITRO


The Simpsonzu by *spacecoyote (ou se os Simpsons fossem anime...)

TECNOFERA

Here are the Top Ten Privacy Stories of 2006 and Ten Privacy Issues to Watch in 2007 from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC):
Millions of Military Records Go Missing
Identity Theft Keeps Top Spot
NSA Domestic Spying
H-P Spy Scandal
Choicepoint Gets Privacy Religion
Passenger Profiling and Terrorist Scoring
Digital Strip Searches
Europeans Battle US Over Privacy
Congress Passes Phone Pretexting Bill
National ID Cards

Issues to watch in 2007:
Privacy Oversight and the New Congress
REAL ID Not So Real?
Renewed Interest in Medical Records Privacy
EU-US Privacy Showdown
"No-swipe" credit cards
Cell Phone Tracking and Spim
Privacy in Second Life
Databanks of Children
Sex Blogging
Smarter Cameras, More Surveillance

.DE!

Avisos sérios:

A warning label on a washing machine at a laundromat that warns, "Do not put any person in this washer" has been chosen as the nation’s wackiest warning label in M-LAW’s annual Wacky Warning Label Contest.

Outros que andaram perto do prémio maior:
The $250 second place award went to Rich Heitzig of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota for a label on a personal watercraft that warns: "Never use a lit match or open flame to check fuel level."

There was a tie for third place prize. Farrah Kakavand of Oak Park, California won a share of third place and $100 for a warning she found on a Super Lotto ticket which says, "Do not iron"
The other third place winner was found by Nancy Shue of York, Pennsylvania on a on a cell phone. The warning? It says: "Don’t try to dry your phone in a microwave oven."

Honorable mention goes to Ronald Hyman of Augusta, Georgia for a warning he found on the cover of his local Yellow Pages book which cautions users: "Please do not use this directory while operationg a moving vehicle."

06 janeiro 2007

CULTURAS IN VITRO


Portugal woos Bollywood: LISBON: The developing Indo-Portuguese relationship is likely to make Bollywood's presence here a much larger one with the two governments preparing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cinema, allowing greater interaction and providing easy clearance for Indian film crew to shoot at exotic locations all over Portugal.
The MoU will be signed during the visit of Portuguese president Anibal Cavaco Silva to India from January 10-17. Officials here seem quite enthusiastic about Indo-Portuguese relations on this front as they believe it will give Lisbon an opportunity to attract Indian tourists. [...]
The MoU will also pave the way for screening of Portuguese and Hindi movies in each other's country beyond the platforms of film festivals.
Film on Abu Salem to roll next month in Portugal: A three-hour film on the life and times of mobster Abu Salem is poised for shooting in Portugal and Mumbai next month, and the producer hopes to get the court's nod to get the man now in jail to feature in it.

05 janeiro 2007

PHOTO-GRAFIA


The Golden Age of Gang Graffiti: When these photographs of Chicano "placas" (wall writing) were made in the early 1970s gangs and their graffiti were a mysterious presence that few understood -- if they were aware of them at all. In the thirty plus years since the popular media and entertainment industry have repeatedly spotlighted the subject to the point that the gangsta culture has become a pervasive part of our society. [...]
This is, of course, still vandelism but from an earlier and more innocent time.

CULTURAS IN VITRO


Collateral, projections of Jean-Christian Bourcart: I projected photographs of mutilated and dead Iraqis on American houses, supermarkets, churches, and parking lots.

TECNOSFERA


The Blogosphere: A Fresh View: The visualization is centered on DailyKos. The highly connected area below centre is the socio/political community. Above and to the right is the heart of the technical blogosphere with BoingBoing being the brightest node.

TECNOSFERA


Mealheiro-tamagotchi: A little Japanese man living in the screen starts off by living in a shoebox home and gradually upgrades to a luxury apartment reflecting on the amount of money in it.

CULTURAS IN VITRO

Albums sales plunged in 2006, but digital downloads soared: U.S. album sales continued to decline in 2006, down nearly 5 percent from the previous year, but total music sales were up thanks to a huge increase in digital downloads.
About 588.2 million albums were sold in 2006 -- a 4.9 percent decline from 2005, according to year-end sales figures released Thursday by Nielsen SoundScan.
But digital sales increased by 65 percent over the previous year, with 582 million tracks sold, and digital album sales more than doubled, with nearly 33 million sold.
Overall music sales increased by more than 19 percent in 2006, but that number includes all albums, singles, music videos and digital downloads.

04 janeiro 2007

CONTAMINANTES

The New Year's Resolution Experiment: Psychologists seek key to successful new year resolutions: Volunteers taking part in the study can take comfort from knowing that no matter how badly they fail to keep their resolutions they will help psychologists identify the best, and worst, techniques for motivating people to change their lives for the better.

VITAMEDIAS

Como se sente um homem a dar entrevistas sobre a actualidade que apenas serão publicadas após a sua morte - dois, três, 10 anos depois?

Embargoes: Are They Necessary? Are They Ethical?
I was surprised to read in the Washington Post that Ford had given a secret interview to Bob Woodward two years ago. In that interview, Ford expressed his doubts about the war in Iraq. He stated it had been a serious error.

The interview was kept secret because the reporter was asked not to publish the story until Ford had died. Woodward agreed.

Quoted in the trade publication, Editor & Publisher, Woodward wrote that he initially interviewed Ford for a possible book, but “agreed to embargo the former president's comments until after his death.”

The Post was not the only publication to agree to an embargo.

Newsweek magazine interviewed Ford three years ago in which the former president stated that he opposed the neo-conservative influence that has pushed the Republican Party toward the hard right. [...]

The question should always be asked whether the public interest might be served in knowing this information. If so, then it can be argued that the embargo should be ignored.

VITAMEDIAS

A disparity of tastes in U.S. households: A majority of Americans got hooked on a TV show this year, an Associated Press-America Online News poll shows. But some say they watch their favorite shows alone: Their spouse or partner is into much different fare. [...]
For women, the top show was "Grey's Anatomy," which often tops the weekly Nielsen ratings. For men, it was "House," with the curmudgeonly Hugh Laurie, on Fox. High on the overall list were "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "CSI: Miami."

CONTAMINANTES

Sex ID test: Find out more about 'brain sex' differences

VITAMEDIAS

O novo Wall Street Journal: Embracing Change to Build On a Tradition of Excellence
The biggest change is the one Managing Editor Paul Steiger describes: The Journal's news department is increasing the proportion of articles that are exclusive, telling you about facts, trends, ideas and analysis you won't see anywhere else. A little over half of the Journal in recent times has been this kind of unique coverage -- more than any other newspaper, which is one reason the number of people subscribing to the Journal is up by 10% this year, when most newspapers have many fewer such subscribers.

.DE!

via My Confined Space

ECOPOL


via My Confined Space

CULTURAS IN VITRO

Creepy art increases heart patients' blood pressure: Works of art meant to hearten patients at a Canadian cardiac hospital as part of a study have been removed after complaints they made people feel tense and increased their blood pressure, a doctor says.
"The idea was to try to brighten up the place and make it alive," Dr Robert Roberts said, head of the Ottawa Heart Institute.
"But our choice of austere paintings instead increased our patients' blood pressure slightly.
"Most people who have a heart attack come here to feel better but the paintings made people feel tense and nurses noticed patients were more agitated while waiting to have their blood pressure tested."
The paintings used in the art therapy experiment, believed to be the first of its kind in Canada, included five portraits by artist Shirley Brown called The Queens.

CONTAMINANTES


Blue Origin Revealed: After years of working behind closed doors and locked gates, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has finally lifted the curtain that shrouded Blue Origin, his space tourism venture.

VITAMEDIAS

Why Blog Reviews Can Bite You in the Butt: The blog world isn't fair. While bloggers have a wonderful way of ferreting out the truth when someone's being less than honest, they also have a way of occasionally placing blame where blame doesn't belong. Case in point? This week's fuss over Microsoft and Edelman, their public relations firm. What did these two companies do to earn the disdain of bloggers? (Ok, Microsoft already had it...but I'm talking about with this specific incident.) Amazingly, they did nothing wrong at all, other than perhaps failing to exercise a little common sense. [...]
The blog world is a complicated one. Bloggers walk the line between being your neighbor next door that knows a lot about a topic and being real journalists that are required to adhere to journalistic integrity despite having never taken a class on the subject. That's why as much as it's a good idea to start diving into the blog world to promote your business, it's also a good idea to move slowly and cautiously until you gain some experience interacting with bloggers.

TECNOSFERA

How To Avoid The Biggest Search Engine Myths: Some of the myths that you should be aware of include:
• There is no way to perfectly optimize for every site.
• There are 10,000 different Search Engines in existence.
• Page Rank is dead.
• Make sure that you repeat your keywords 100 times per page.
• The Search Engines do not have time to ban you for poor optimization.
• Make sure that you submit your site to every Search Engine in existence.
• Your site does not have to have content in order to be ranked high.
• Meta tags are extremely important.
• You just need to get more links to your site.
• You do not have to have patience in order to do Search Engine optimization.
• If you have a new site it cannot get listed in the Search Engines.
• You need to have multiple domain names.
• You should resubmit your site to the Search Engines every week or at least every month.

TECNOSFERA

geoGreeting: the joy of satellite imagery

ECOPOL

WikiLeaks is developing an uncensorable version of WikiPedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary targets are highly oppressive regimes in China, Russia, central eurasia, the middle east and sub-saharan Africa, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations.

CULTURAS IN VITRO


"Built for Crime" (2006), Monica Bonvicini;
from the exhibition, "Never Missing a Line"


Museum and gallery exhibitions in New York - Our Top 10 List for 2007:
1. “Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years” — The Museum of Modern Art
Jun. 3-Sep. 10, 2007
2. “Lawrence Weiner” — Whitney Museum of American Art
Opens October 2007
3. “High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting 1967-1975” — National Academy Museum
Feb. 15-Apr. 22, 2007
4. “Impressed by Light: Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1960” — The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sep. 25-Dec. 31, 2007
5. “Anthony McCall: New Work” — Sean Kelly Gallery
Feb. 2-Mar. 10, 2007
6. “Networked Nature” — Foxy Production
Jan. 11-Feb. 18, 2007
7. “Monica Bonvicini: Never Missing A Line” — SculptureCenter
Jan. 7-Mar. 25, 2007
8. “Tom Sandberg” — P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
Feb. 11-Apr. 6, 2007
9. “Unsung” — Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery
Feb. 16-Mar. 17, 2007
10. “Design for the Other 90%” — Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
May 4-Sep. 23, 2007

E ainda:


The Centre Pompidou is presenting work by Hergé through Feb. 19.
Bringing together several hundreds of original drawings, prints and other documents, this exhibition pays homage to the work of famed Belgian illustrator Georges Remi­—better known as Hergé—who would have celebrated his 100th birthday in 2007.