Culture

January 31, 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 11:07 AM/EST

Next Steps on SOPA

When speaking last week about social media and such to the senior class at my daughter's high school, I began with the Wikipedia blackout and asked them what was up with that. "SOPA," responded the crowd. Now, they had just...

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January 25, 2012

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 11:14 AM/EST

Good Riddance to the Textbook

By Samuel Greengard Apple sent ripples through the education and publishing worlds when it announced that it was looking to redefine the modern textbook. iBook Author could revolutionize the way schools and students use books. It could modernize learning and,...

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January 20, 2012

Friday, January 20, 2012 11:37 AM/EST

Second Amendment Meets First Amendment

While waxing nostalgic and looking for the roots of the rebellion against SOPA and PIPA I found a relevant bit of paleoblog navel-gazing come true. From 2003, as the power of social tools -- preached by pioneers like Dave Winer...

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January 18, 2012

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 10:51 AM/EST

Ten Years Gone: Hollywood vs the Web

SOPA and PIPA may be bad news, but they aren't really fresh news. Back in 2002, the equation already had been worked out: Hollywood money + Congressional cluelessness = flawed legislation The issue at that time was a bill aimed...

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January 17, 2012

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 10:34 AM/EST

Coding Playoffs Feature Dueling AIs

by Tim Moran Hard on the heels of college bowl season comes the International Collegiate Programming Finals, a competition that promises "All the excitement of March Madness, without the sweat!" Sponsored by Windward, which started as a gaming company (Enemy...

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January 11, 2012

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 1:42 PM/EST

Alone Together on the Web

By Samuel Greengard I'm sitting in a Starbucks in my hometown of West Linn Oregon typing out this blog. There's nothing remarkable about that. These days, we're all wired in from everywhere. I've posted to Facebook from Galway, Ireland and...

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January 3, 2012

Tuesday, January 03, 2012 4:30 PM/EST

Customer Revolt Succeeds, Again

by Samuel Greengard In late December, Verizon Wireless decided to institute a $2 "convenience" fee for one-time payments made online or over the phone. The company said that the fee was necessary to offset costs related to processing payments "through...

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Tuesday, January 03, 2012 4:10 PM/EST

Time for a New Calendar, They Say

by Tim Moran So the calendar page has turned, once again, to the beginning of a new year. Most of us did a little partying on 12/31 and got up--however happily--on 1/1 without giving the least bit of thought to...

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December 12, 2011

Monday, December 12, 2011 2:39 PM/EST

Lowe's Social Media Fail

Lowe's, the big home-improvement chain, decided to use Facebook to explain its decision to pull ads from the television series All-Amerian Muslim. Issues of common decency and diversity aside, there was an obvious lack of think-through in committing to the...

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Monday, December 12, 2011 1:28 PM/EST

Fat, Dumb, and Happy on the Internet

by Samuel Greengard Pew Research Center's Internet & Life Project reports that 53 percent of young adults ages 18 to 29 go online on any given day for no particular reason. About 81 percent indicated that they do so occasionally....

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