31 maio 2008
29 maio 2008
28 maio 2008
Olha, é falso...
Biggest drawing in the world: This is fictional work. DHL did not transport the GPS at any time
'Biggest drawing in world' revealed as hoax: A Swedish artist who claimed to have drawn the biggest picture in the world using a GPS device stuffed inside a briefcase has been exposed as a hoaxer.
26 maio 2008
"I Have a Blog so You Don’t Have to"
Exposed: What I gained — and lost — by writing about my intimate life online. By Emily Gould [from Emily Magazine - “I Have a Blog so You Don’t Have to”]
I understand that by writing here about how I revealed my intimate life online, I’ve now revealed even more about what happened during the period when I was most exposed. Well, I’m an oversharer — it’s not like I’m entirely reformed. But lately, online, I’ve found myself doing something unexpected: keeping the personal details of my current life to myself.
QI e browsers
Members of Smartest Browser and OS
Position. Name - IQ Score
1. Mozilla on MacPPC - 108.99
2. Mozilla on Unknown - 106.41
3. Opera on UNIX - 105.40
4. Firefox on UNIX - 104.42
5. Mozilla on UNIX - 103.76
6. Firefox on MacPPC - 103.64
7. AppleMAC-Safari on Unknown - 103.63
8. Firefox on Unknown - 103.37
9. AppleMAC-Safari on MacPPC - 103.35
10. Firefox on Win2000 - 102.57
Position. Name - IQ Score
1. Mozilla on MacPPC - 108.99
2. Mozilla on Unknown - 106.41
3. Opera on UNIX - 105.40
4. Firefox on UNIX - 104.42
5. Mozilla on UNIX - 103.76
6. Firefox on MacPPC - 103.64
7. AppleMAC-Safari on Unknown - 103.63
8. Firefox on Unknown - 103.37
9. AppleMAC-Safari on MacPPC - 103.35
10. Firefox on Win2000 - 102.57
25 maio 2008
Guerra das Estrelas
The Secret History of Star Wars is a new full-length e-book exploring the writing and creation of the Star Wars saga. Culled from over 400 sources and filled with quotes from people such as George Lucas, Gary Kurtz and Mark Hamill, The Secret History of Star Wars traces all the way back to 1973 to examine how the first 14-page treatment that began the series came to be and was slowly built, draft by draft, year by year and movie by movie.
24 maio 2008
A ver, rapidamente
17 Google Maps Mashups To Waste Away Your Day: You might want to hurry browsing through these, though; from our experience, Google Maps mashups tend to die out almost as fast as they appear.
23 maio 2008
Classe média em baixa
Mom forced to live in car with dogs: Barbara Harvey climbs into the back of her small Honda sport utility vehicle and snuggles with her two golden retrievers, her head nestled on a pillow propped against the driver's seat. [...]
Harvey was forced into homelessness this year after being laid off. She said that three-quarters of her income went to paying rent in Santa Barbara, where the median house in the scenic oceanfront city costs more than $1 million. She lost her condo two months ago and had little savings as backup.
"It went to hell in a handbasket," she said. "I didn't think this would happen to me. It's just something that I don't think that people think is going to happen to them, is what it amounts to. It happens very quickly, too."
Harvey now works part time for $8 an hour, and she draws Social Security to help make ends meet. But she still cannot afford an apartment, and so every night she pulls into a gated parking lot to sleep in her car, along with other women who find themselves in a similar predicament.
There are 12 parking lots across Santa Barbara that have been set up to accommodate the growing middle-class homelessness.
Harvey was forced into homelessness this year after being laid off. She said that three-quarters of her income went to paying rent in Santa Barbara, where the median house in the scenic oceanfront city costs more than $1 million. She lost her condo two months ago and had little savings as backup.
"It went to hell in a handbasket," she said. "I didn't think this would happen to me. It's just something that I don't think that people think is going to happen to them, is what it amounts to. It happens very quickly, too."
Harvey now works part time for $8 an hour, and she draws Social Security to help make ends meet. But she still cannot afford an apartment, and so every night she pulls into a gated parking lot to sleep in her car, along with other women who find themselves in a similar predicament.
There are 12 parking lots across Santa Barbara that have been set up to accommodate the growing middle-class homelessness.
Mudança
Paris-based newspaper scraps 'dingbat' logo for a cleaner, more modern look: The International Herald Tribune has jettisoned its ornate, 142-year-old logo for a more modern, simpler look.
The detail-rich logo known by staffers as the "dingbat" was removed for good from the Paris-based newspaper's masthead Wednesday, replaced by the phrase, "The Global Edition of the New York Times." [...]
The logo's panorama of symbolic images features pyramids and camels, an ox pulling a plow, a bridge, an hourglass, a soaring airplane and a bald eagle atop a clock showing the time of 6:12 -- for unknown reasons, [Richard Kluger in "The Paper: The Life and Death of the Herald Tribune"] wrote.
The images and whimsical name became the stuff of journalistic folklore for some. The origin of the reference to dingbat -- meaning "a thing, object or contrivance," according to Webster's Dictionary -- is unclear.
The detail-rich logo known by staffers as the "dingbat" was removed for good from the Paris-based newspaper's masthead Wednesday, replaced by the phrase, "The Global Edition of the New York Times." [...]
The logo's panorama of symbolic images features pyramids and camels, an ox pulling a plow, a bridge, an hourglass, a soaring airplane and a bald eagle atop a clock showing the time of 6:12 -- for unknown reasons, [Richard Kluger in "The Paper: The Life and Death of the Herald Tribune"] wrote.
The images and whimsical name became the stuff of journalistic folklore for some. The origin of the reference to dingbat -- meaning "a thing, object or contrivance," according to Webster's Dictionary -- is unclear.
Imagens, muitas imagens
Digital Image Resources on the Deep Web: These images won't show up in search engines' image searches
22 maio 2008
21 maio 2008
O acordo ortográfico português visto de Inglaterra
Portuguese words to go the Brazilian way: Portugal, once a mighty world power, has given in to its former colony, Brazil, when it comes to spelling. Its parliament voted Friday to standardize the Portuguese language and spell words the Brazilian way. It also added three letters to the alphabet -- k, w, and y. The president is expected to approve the change.
The benefits: easier Internet searches, a uniform language for legal documents and international contracts, and less headache for textbook publishers. The drawback: wounded Portuguese pride.
The benefits: easier Internet searches, a uniform language for legal documents and international contracts, and less headache for textbook publishers. The drawback: wounded Portuguese pride.
O desejo de querer sempre mais, muito mais...
Britain mulls plan to store all emails and calls: [A] new Home Office (Interior Ministry) proposal would see Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies handing over records containing billions of e-mails as well as Internet usage and voice-over-Internet calls, media reports said on Tuesday.
Police and security services would be able to have access to the information after seeking permission from the courts. [...]
The draft bill is expected to be released later in the year, but the plan has yet to be discussed by ministers.
It is likely to raise concerns about civil liberties and data protection, especially after recent scandals including the loss of child benefits information.
Autoria da imagem: Vinchen
103 explosões na Lua (2005 a 2008)
100 Explosions on the Moon: A map of the 100 explosions observed since late 2005. A complete list with lunar coordinates is available here.
20 maio 2008
19 maio 2008
Visão comparada com Monocle
FOUR HOURS OF GREAT MAGAZINE READING: VISAO AND MONOCLE: I spent more than two hours of my flight back to New York reading and enjoying the last issue of VISAO.
Absorbing every story, every graphic, every detail.
It was a great flight for magazine reading: first VISAO (two hours) and then MONOCLE (another two hours).
Absorbing every story, every graphic, every detail.
It was a great flight for magazine reading: first VISAO (two hours) and then MONOCLE (another two hours).
18 maio 2008
17 maio 2008
Quando o jornalismo de tecnologia é a notícia:
CBS Corporation To Acquire CNET Networks, Inc.: CBS to Become a Top Ten U.S. Internet Company with Unparalleled Content and Reach, Boasting Approximately 200 Million Monthly Unique Users Worldwide CNET Networks' CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, CNET News, UrbanBaby, BNET, CHOW and Search.com, Among Others, To Be Combined with CBS Corporation's National and Local Interactive Businesses
Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Ars Technica: Condé Nast has acquired popular technology blog Ars Technica, we’ve confirmed. The site will become part of Wired Digital (which in turn is under CondéNet, run by Sarah Chubb). Wired Digital assets include Wired.com and Reddit (acquired in 2006). The acquisition price will not be disclosed, but our sources say it is in the $25 million range, which is what Condé Nast paid for Wired.com in 2006.
Effectively, Ars Technica is now part of Wired. Look for an official announcement next week.
Em simultâneo: Why old media is running scared of Google
In the last year:
• Cox bought Adify
• Hi-Media Group bought Fotolog
• Time Warner's AOL bought Bebo, Quigo, Third Screen Media
• Comcast bought Plaxo
• Disney bought Club Penguin
• CBS bought Last.fm, CNET Networks, Wallstrip, Dotspotter
• Microsoft bought 1.6 percent of Facebook
• Hearst bought Kaboodle and Answerology
• Jupiter Media bought MediaBistro
• News Corp. bought Photobucket, Beliefnet
• The New Times bought Freakonomics blog
• Forbes bought Clipmarks
• Discovery bought Treehugger
If you use News Corp.'s 2005 acquisition of MySpace.com as the starting point, the list gets longer.
Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Ars Technica: Condé Nast has acquired popular technology blog Ars Technica, we’ve confirmed. The site will become part of Wired Digital (which in turn is under CondéNet, run by Sarah Chubb). Wired Digital assets include Wired.com and Reddit (acquired in 2006). The acquisition price will not be disclosed, but our sources say it is in the $25 million range, which is what Condé Nast paid for Wired.com in 2006.
Effectively, Ars Technica is now part of Wired. Look for an official announcement next week.
Em simultâneo: Why old media is running scared of Google
In the last year:
• Cox bought Adify
• Hi-Media Group bought Fotolog
• Time Warner's AOL bought Bebo, Quigo, Third Screen Media
• Comcast bought Plaxo
• Disney bought Club Penguin
• CBS bought Last.fm, CNET Networks, Wallstrip, Dotspotter
• Microsoft bought 1.6 percent of Facebook
• Hearst bought Kaboodle and Answerology
• Jupiter Media bought MediaBistro
• News Corp. bought Photobucket, Beliefnet
• The New Times bought Freakonomics blog
• Forbes bought Clipmarks
• Discovery bought Treehugger
If you use News Corp.'s 2005 acquisition of MySpace.com as the starting point, the list gets longer.
15 maio 2008
Porquê o não a um código? Talvez porque a lei já o contempla...
Web users back code for bloggers: Nearly half of all internet users would support a voluntary code of conduct for bloggers and online commentators, according to research.
A survey by legal firm DLA Piper said 46% of web users think bloggers should sign up to a code that reflected the laws on defamation, intellectual property and incitement, with 15% ambivalent and 4% strongly opposed.
Around 34% of bloggers opposed the idea but 32% supported it.
A survey by legal firm DLA Piper said 46% of web users think bloggers should sign up to a code that reflected the laws on defamation, intellectual property and incitement, with 15% ambivalent and 4% strongly opposed.
Around 34% of bloggers opposed the idea but 32% supported it.
Curso de formação del.icio.us
It’s del.icio.us: Pushing Links to Create Dynamic Web Pages
[está adaptado para bibliotecários mas funciona para outros interesses]
[está adaptado para bibliotecários mas funciona para outros interesses]
Coisas que é bom saber
Five science fiction movies that get the science right:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Alien (1979)
Gattaca (1997)
Solaris (1972 and 2002)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Alien (1979)
Gattaca (1997)
Solaris (1972 and 2002)
14 maio 2008
Foto-retoques
Approaching the uncanny valley from the other direction: Fashion photo retouching (i.e. high-brow Photoshopping) gets the New Yorker treatment with this story on retoucher Pascal Dangin, one of the best in the business.
Mais do que um jogo
Foldit is a revolutionary new computer game enabling you to contribute to important scientific research.
13 maio 2008
À atenção dos bloggers...
Bloggers unclear but unconcerned about legal pitfalls: More than three-quarters of bloggers are unsure about their legal rights and responsibilities, while the majority do not think they should be held to the same standards as journalists, according to new research.
The research, conducted by YouGov for global legal services organisation DLA Piper, reveals that only 5% of internet users are clear on their legal rights and responsibilities when posting comment online. [...]
DLA Piper also offers some useful legal pitfalls relating to user generated content:
* Defamation: This country has tough libel laws and from the earliest Web 1.0 bulletin boards posters have got into difficulty with defamatory comments -- as have the online services that carry them.
* Offensive messages: There are a range of laws from the Protection from Harassment Act to specific restrictions in the Telecommunications Act that can be invoked.
* Incitement: There have been high profile cases relating to terrorism but any encouragement of others to commit unlawful acts can result in prosecution.
* Intellectual property: There is a copy and paste culture online, but using other people's material (whether it's an article, photograph, logo or even another blog posting) can cause problems.
* Linking: Bloggers need to think about what is on their own site, but also keep an eye on the links they provide to other pages (eg to offensive or illegal material).
* Reporting: The law of contempt and other statutory reporting restrictions carry strict penalties if breached.
* Corporate blogging: The legal pitfalls can be even more pronounced in the case of corporate blogs where additional commercial concerns will apply.
The research, conducted by YouGov for global legal services organisation DLA Piper, reveals that only 5% of internet users are clear on their legal rights and responsibilities when posting comment online. [...]
DLA Piper also offers some useful legal pitfalls relating to user generated content:
* Defamation: This country has tough libel laws and from the earliest Web 1.0 bulletin boards posters have got into difficulty with defamatory comments -- as have the online services that carry them.
* Offensive messages: There are a range of laws from the Protection from Harassment Act to specific restrictions in the Telecommunications Act that can be invoked.
* Incitement: There have been high profile cases relating to terrorism but any encouragement of others to commit unlawful acts can result in prosecution.
* Intellectual property: There is a copy and paste culture online, but using other people's material (whether it's an article, photograph, logo or even another blog posting) can cause problems.
* Linking: Bloggers need to think about what is on their own site, but also keep an eye on the links they provide to other pages (eg to offensive or illegal material).
* Reporting: The law of contempt and other statutory reporting restrictions carry strict penalties if breached.
* Corporate blogging: The legal pitfalls can be even more pronounced in the case of corporate blogs where additional commercial concerns will apply.
Vai um desafio?
Welcome to Pattrns: Match 3 cards. Elements (shape/color/fill/number) must be the same or different to make a match.
12 maio 2008
11 maio 2008
Uma nova experiência
Library of Congress Experience will offer “hands-on” interaction with rare cultural treasures in ways that inspire and engage.
Artifacts like the Waldseemüller map (the first to include the name “America”), the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, the Gutenberg Bible and original volumes from Thomas Jefferson’s Library will be virtually at your fingertips. You’ll be able to flip through their pages, magnify sections of interest and access commentary from the Library’s top experts-all on the same touch screen.
10 maio 2008
Amigos gráficos
Friend Webs is an application that creates a dynamic social graph of your friends. It is a whole new way to visualize and interact with your friends on Facebook. As you watch, relationships between your friends are added to the graph and friends who are friends move closer together.
09 maio 2008
Com idade e com vícios
A 70-year-old's Take on GTA IV: I asked him this morning what he thought of the game, is it enjoyable? Enjoyable, he says, isn't the right word. It's interesting... challenging. I like the graphics, the animation is amazing, but the story is what keeps me playing. I just can't beat some of the missions and that gets frustrating.
Google Maps Grand Theft Auto 4 (GTA 4): Your Google Guide to Liberty CityBTW, Video games don't create killers, new book says: Playing video games does not turn children into deranged, blood-thirsty super-killers, according to a new book by a pair of Harvard researchers.
Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson, a husband-and-wife team at Harvard Medical School, detail their views in "Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do," which came out last month and promises to reshape the debate on the effects of video games on kids.
Efeito Facebook
The moment award-winning garden is destroyed after hundreds respond to Facebook water fight: More than 300 people ran riot and destroyed an award-winning garden after they responded to a campaign for a mass water fight on social networking website Facebook.
Sem embargo (será um OVNI?) e na cama com...
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ETH Zuerich/M.Guedel et al.; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.WeissNASA to Announce Success of Long Galactic Hunt: NASA has scheduled a media teleconference Wednesday, May 14, at 1 p.m. EDT, to announce the discovery of an object in our Galaxy astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years. This finding was made by combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory with ground-based observations.
Por falar na NASA, procuram-se vountários: NASA Offers $5000 a Month For You to Lie in Bed: Participants will spend 90 days lying in bed, (except for limited times for specific tests) with their body slightly tilted downward (head down, feet up). Every day, they will be awake for 16 hours and lights out (asleep) for 8 hours.
Caso de estudo (com dúvidas a negrito sobre "10 Anos de Estudos da Marktest na Internet em Portugal"), para maiores de 4 anos
Marktest lança estudo 10 Anos de Internet em Portugal: Portugal liga-se à Internet em 1991, o que significa que comemoramos no próximo ano a "maioridade". O início da rede, nos Estados Unidos, data de 1969 (passaram 39 anos), ao passo que o início da web se situa vinte anos depois, em 1989/90).
A Marktest começou a estudar o uso da Internet pelos portugueses logo em 1997, seis anos depois da sua implantação no nosso país e apenas dois anos depois da sua utilização se começar a generalizar.
Em 2007 passou uma década sobre esta data [...]
Já agora, mais uma: 2,4 milhões em sites do Governo: Segundo os resultados do estudo Netpanel da Marktest, os sites do Governo (exclui autarquias locais) receberam durante o ano de 2007 a visita de 2,4 milhões de internautas, que acederam a partir dos seus lares.
O Netpanel contabiliza 2 447 mil internautas residentes no Continente com 4 e mais anos que acederam a sites do Governo durante o ano, quando em suas casas navegaram na internet. Este valor representa 81.0% dos internautas nacionais.
A Marktest começou a estudar o uso da Internet pelos portugueses logo em 1997, seis anos depois da sua implantação no nosso país e apenas dois anos depois da sua utilização se começar a generalizar.
Em 2007 passou uma década sobre esta data [...]
Já agora, mais uma: 2,4 milhões em sites do Governo: Segundo os resultados do estudo Netpanel da Marktest, os sites do Governo (exclui autarquias locais) receberam durante o ano de 2007 a visita de 2,4 milhões de internautas, que acederam a partir dos seus lares.
O Netpanel contabiliza 2 447 mil internautas residentes no Continente com 4 e mais anos que acederam a sites do Governo durante o ano, quando em suas casas navegaram na internet. Este valor representa 81.0% dos internautas nacionais.
08 maio 2008
Dicas para evitar a "info overload"
Managing Information Flow: How Prioritization Will Improve Your Work and Learning Efficiency
Engenho e esforço
The Museum of Unworkable Devices: This museum is a celebration of fascinating devices that don't work. It houses diverse examples of the perverse genius of inventors who refused to let their thinking be intimidated by the laws of nature, remaining optimistic in the face of repeated failures.
07 maio 2008
The Economist com rap
Economist raps up youth market: The rap, created by US students Ike Edgerton and Chris Misa under the name Psikotic, is a tribute that includes samples of Economist journalists such as Edward Lucas and Anthony Gottlieb from the title's audio podcasts.
The chorus of the rap runs: "He reads the Economist so he can get the gist, its solid competence gives him confidence that his intelligence is correct."
Other lines praise editorial standards such as "The style in which they write is simple and concise, how do they get their sentences so precise?"
The rap finishes with the defiant statement: "I guess reading it makes me kind of boring. Well if that's the price I pay for being well informed - too fucking bad."
Teens' Economist Rap Less Uncomfortable Than One Might Suspect
The chorus of the rap runs: "He reads the Economist so he can get the gist, its solid competence gives him confidence that his intelligence is correct."
Other lines praise editorial standards such as "The style in which they write is simple and concise, how do they get their sentences so precise?"
The rap finishes with the defiant statement: "I guess reading it makes me kind of boring. Well if that's the price I pay for being well informed - too fucking bad."
Teens' Economist Rap Less Uncomfortable Than One Might Suspect
Mais uma fotofalsificação...
THE ART OF SOVIET PROPAGANDA: Iconic Red Army Reichstag Photo Faked
A Soviet soldier heroically waves the red flag, the hammer and sickle billow above the Reichstag. Yevgeny Khaldei photographed one of the iconic images of the 20th century. But the legendary image was manipulated to conceal the fact that the Soviet soldiers on the roof had been looting. An exhibition of Khaldei's work opens in Berlin this week.
06 maio 2008
Arte com pixéis
Pixels Go Mad - The Celebration Of Pixel Art: we present over 50 excellent pixel art designs — illustrations, paintings and posters
E quanto a descontos?
NBC Super Bowl Ads to Cost $3 Million: The Super Bowl has always been a tough ticket, but now NBC is telling advertisers it will cost them $3 million just to get into the game -- for 30 seconds.
NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., plans to announce next week that $3 million will be the entry price for a commercial at the 2009 Super Bowl. While individual slots have sold at that level before, it's never been the starting point for negotiations for the dozens of 30-second ads sold for the game. It represents a price increase of more than 10%, roughly double the usual annual rise. [...]
For this year's Super Bowl, Fox, a unit of News Corp., received about $2.7 million for 30 seconds, though some of the final slots went for about $3 million, according to media buyers. [...]
Of course, some longtime advertisers, including marketers that buy multiple spots every year, won't be paying $3 million for their ads.
Anheuser-Busch, for example, has locked in a rate of about $2 million for each of its spots, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The brewer often buys about 10 ads every Super Bowl and purchases ad time months and years in advance.
NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., plans to announce next week that $3 million will be the entry price for a commercial at the 2009 Super Bowl. While individual slots have sold at that level before, it's never been the starting point for negotiations for the dozens of 30-second ads sold for the game. It represents a price increase of more than 10%, roughly double the usual annual rise. [...]
For this year's Super Bowl, Fox, a unit of News Corp., received about $2.7 million for 30 seconds, though some of the final slots went for about $3 million, according to media buyers. [...]
Of course, some longtime advertisers, including marketers that buy multiple spots every year, won't be paying $3 million for their ads.
Anheuser-Busch, for example, has locked in a rate of about $2 million for each of its spots, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The brewer often buys about 10 ads every Super Bowl and purchases ad time months and years in advance.
Para quem acha que a Yahoo! se afundou perante a Microsoft e esta desistiu da aquisição:
Yahoo stock plunges? On Jan 31, the day before Microsoft offered $31/share for Yahoo, YHOO was at $19.18/share (market cap: $26.4 billion) and MSFT was at $32.60/share (market cap: $303.6 billion). At the close of trading today, YHOO closed at $24.37/share (market cap: $33.5 billion) and MSFT was at $29.08/share (market cap: $270.8 billion). In other words, the Microsoft offer increased the value of Yahoo! Inc. by more than $7 billion and decreased the value of Microsoft Corporation by almost $33 billion. In still other words, in attempting to take Yahoo by force, they let an amount equal to Yahoo slip through their fingers.
Why Yahoo Shares Lost Only 15%: The bottom didn't fall out of the stock after Microsoft yanked its bid. One reason, says CEO Yang: "We have more alternatives" than before the offer [...]
Chief among the options remains the possibility that Microsoft's decision to walk away is a high-stakes negotiating tactic intended to tank Yahoo's stock price and force Yang back to the bargaining table. Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst with Collins Stewart, estimates that as much as $4 of Yahoo's stock price today can be attributed to investor hopes for a Microsoft deal.
Why Yahoo Shares Lost Only 15%: The bottom didn't fall out of the stock after Microsoft yanked its bid. One reason, says CEO Yang: "We have more alternatives" than before the offer [...]
Chief among the options remains the possibility that Microsoft's decision to walk away is a high-stakes negotiating tactic intended to tank Yahoo's stock price and force Yang back to the bargaining table. Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst with Collins Stewart, estimates that as much as $4 of Yahoo's stock price today can be attributed to investor hopes for a Microsoft deal.
A transição para a televisão digital
Digital Transition Looms, but Do Americans Have a Right to TV? That's because on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, the FCC will repossess the analog spectrum from the major television broadcasters and the networks will go all-digital. [...]
The prospect of good, honest, television-loving Americans losing their signal has caused a lot of hand wringing of late. According to a January survey by the National Association of Broadcasters, 79 percent of Americans are aware of the transition. That number is up from 38 percent the previous year, but it still means that 21 percent of the citizenry has no clue that the country is about to go through a wrenching technological change with its most massive of mass mediums. A recent New York Times article cites a study estimating that 9 million households could lose one or more stations, even if they do get converters.
All this despite a huge information campaign and an incentive program that amounts to an investment by American taxpayers of up to $1.5 billion. [...]
Nevertheless, it would be naive to think that television's primary function in most households is as an emergency alert or learning tool. And it's illuminating to put the government's $1.5 billion allocation in perspective. Consider: The proposed 2009 federal budget for adult basic and literacy education is $574.6 million.
Can watching telly make your children cleverer? The makers of the hit show 'Little Einsteins' think so.
Notícias do dia
CCTV boom has failed to slash crime, say police: Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe.
Coimbra entrega hoje projecto de videovigilância no centro histórico: O presidente da Câmara de Coimbra entrega hoje ao Governo o projecto de videovigilância para o centro histórico da cidade, que espera poder montar «o mais rápido possível» para travar a criminalidade na zona
Cultura... pop?
Vote for the world's top public intellectuals: How did we decide who should be on this list? The criteria are relatively simple. Candidates have to be living, and still active in public life. They have to have shown distinction in their particular field as well as an ability to influence debate across borders.
The countdown of the world’s ‘public intellectuals’: These days, we cannot get enough of lists, top 10s and countdowns, of ranking everything, regardless of a total lack of grounds for comparability. It is a comparatively recent phenomenon, with its roots, I suspect, in the most bovine elements of pop culture. And, even given the strange confines of Prospect’s list, how do you choose between the biologist Richard Dawkins and Vaclav Havel, the former Czech president? How do you weigh them up, those titans from utterly different disciplines? You don’t - it’s dumb. It doesn’t make much sense when the formula is applied to television comedy programmes or pop songs, but it’s even dumber when considering these rather arbitrarily defined intellectuals, even if it’s done in a faux-ironic manner.
The second oxymoron lurks in the title itself: “public intellectual”. What on earth is that when it’s at home?
The countdown of the world’s ‘public intellectuals’: These days, we cannot get enough of lists, top 10s and countdowns, of ranking everything, regardless of a total lack of grounds for comparability. It is a comparatively recent phenomenon, with its roots, I suspect, in the most bovine elements of pop culture. And, even given the strange confines of Prospect’s list, how do you choose between the biologist Richard Dawkins and Vaclav Havel, the former Czech president? How do you weigh them up, those titans from utterly different disciplines? You don’t - it’s dumb. It doesn’t make much sense when the formula is applied to television comedy programmes or pop songs, but it’s even dumber when considering these rather arbitrarily defined intellectuals, even if it’s done in a faux-ironic manner.
The second oxymoron lurks in the title itself: “public intellectual”. What on earth is that when it’s at home?
Uma questão de memória
Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm: Piotr Wozniak's quest for anonymity has been successful. Nobody along this string of little beach resorts recognizes him as the inventor of a technique to turn people into geniuses. A portion of this technique, embodied in a software program called SuperMemo, has enthusiastic users around the world. They apply it mainly to learning languages, and it's popular among people for whom fluency is a necessity — students from Poland or other poor countries aiming to score well enough on English-language exams to study abroad. A substantial number of them do not pay for it, and pirated copies are ubiquitous on software bulletin boards in China, where it competes with knockoffs like SugarMemo.
05 maio 2008
Distâncias no Google Maps
Google Maps - Long Drives: I set out to find the longest distance for which Google Maps would give Driving Directions.
Europe - West Canary Islands, Spain to Hammingberg, Norway - 4,425 mi (7,122 km) - about 4 days 8 hours - 156 steps
Europe - West Canary Islands, Spain to Hammingberg, Norway - 4,425 mi (7,122 km) - about 4 days 8 hours - 156 steps
04 maio 2008
Coisas que fascinam
All 120 Crayon Names, Color Codes and Fun Facts: Crayola crayons currently come in 120 colors including 23 reds, 20 greens, 19 blues, 16 purples, 14 oranges, 11 browns, 8 yellows, 2 grays, 2 coppers, 2 blacks, 1 white, 1 gold and 1 silver. Although Crayola crayons come in 120 different colors, the labels are only made in 18, which cover the full color spectrum. Nearly 3 billion crayons are made each year, an average of 12 million daily.
Dos media (Lusa e omissão nas citações ao Primeiro de Janeiro)
Ir um pouco mais longe (a propósito, ler também este "Cuidado com os números")
6. O jornalista deve usar como critério fundamental a identificação das fontes: os camaradas do Janeiro agradecem aos camaradas dos outros meios de comunicação que nos citam quando somos a fonte das suas notícias.
6. O jornalista deve usar como critério fundamental a identificação das fontes: os camaradas do Janeiro agradecem aos camaradas dos outros meios de comunicação que nos citam quando somos a fonte das suas notícias.
03 maio 2008
When the banks became cathedrals
Coldplay - Violet Hill
Was a long and dark December
from the roof-tops I remember
There was snow, white snow
Clearly I remember
From the windows they were watching
While we froze down below
When the future’s architectured
By a carnival of idiots on show
You’d better lie low
If you love me, won’t you let me know?
Was a long and dark December
When the banks became cathedrals
and the frost became God
Priests clutched onto bibles
are rolled out to fit their rifles
and the cross was held aloft
Bury me in honour
When I’m dead and hit the ground
Well, Loves opposed will unfold
If you love me, won’t you let me know?
[Instrumental]
I don’t want to be a soldier
With the captain of some sinking ship
With snow, far below
So if you love me
Why’d you let me go?
I took my love down to violet hill
There we sat in snow
All that time she was silent still
So if you love me
Won’t you let me know?
If you love me,
Won’t you let me know?
Was a long and dark December
from the roof-tops I remember
There was snow, white snow
Clearly I remember
From the windows they were watching
While we froze down below
When the future’s architectured
By a carnival of idiots on show
You’d better lie low
If you love me, won’t you let me know?
Was a long and dark December
When the banks became cathedrals
and the frost became God
Priests clutched onto bibles
are rolled out to fit their rifles
and the cross was held aloft
Bury me in honour
When I’m dead and hit the ground
Well, Loves opposed will unfold
If you love me, won’t you let me know?
[Instrumental]
I don’t want to be a soldier
With the captain of some sinking ship
With snow, far below
So if you love me
Why’d you let me go?
I took my love down to violet hill
There we sat in snow
All that time she was silent still
So if you love me
Won’t you let me know?
If you love me,
Won’t you let me know?
02 maio 2008
Coisas que é bom saber sobre o petróleo
Income For OPEC To hit nearly $1-trillion: OPEC member nations are expected to rake in almost US$1-trillion this year from their oil exports due to record crude prices, the U.S. government's top energy forecasting agency says.
Net oil export earnings from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries were forecast to soar 45% from last year's record US$676-billion to US$980-billion this year and then fall to US$880-billion in 2009, when oil prices are expected to be lower, the Energy Information Administration said this week. [...]
Much of OPEC's oil will be shipped to the United States, the world's biggest consumer.
The EIA did not make public its oil-export earning estimates for individual OPEC members during 2008. But for last year the EIA said the six largest OPEC oil-export earners were: Saudi Arabia (US$194-billion), United Arab Emirates (US$63-billion), Iran (US$58-billion), Nigeria (US$56 billion), Kuwait (US$55-billion) and Algeria (US$50-billion).
Net oil export earnings from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries were forecast to soar 45% from last year's record US$676-billion to US$980-billion this year and then fall to US$880-billion in 2009, when oil prices are expected to be lower, the Energy Information Administration said this week. [...]
Much of OPEC's oil will be shipped to the United States, the world's biggest consumer.
The EIA did not make public its oil-export earning estimates for individual OPEC members during 2008. But for last year the EIA said the six largest OPEC oil-export earners were: Saudi Arabia (US$194-billion), United Arab Emirates (US$63-billion), Iran (US$58-billion), Nigeria (US$56 billion), Kuwait (US$55-billion) and Algeria (US$50-billion).
Uma vitória
A new poll suggests that George W. Bush is the most unpopular president in modern American history.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday indicates that 71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush his handling his job as president.
"No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president's disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. [...]
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted by telephone from Monday through Wednesday, with 1,008 adult Americans questioned. The poll's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday indicates that 71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush his handling his job as president.
"No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president's disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. [...]
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted by telephone from Monday through Wednesday, with 1,008 adult Americans questioned. The poll's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Subscrever:
Mensagens (Atom)