Category: I saw this

Here’s what I’ve tagged on del.icio.us on July 13th:

• Potlatch: the queen & the bbc: beyond conspiracy theory – Will Davies points out that it makes no sense to ask for the truth about what happened with the Queen and Liebovitz. It is what the monarch says it is. And will be what she says it was.
• Legal wrangles over porn billing software | Technology | Guardian Unlimited Technology – Micro Bill Systems are clearly a nasty bunch.

Here’s what I’ve tagged on del.icio.us on July 11th:

• Will It Blend? | Presented By Blendtec – Oh yes.. oh yes indeed

Here’s what I tagged on del.icio.us between July 4th and July 9th:

• Cambridge Film Festival – Welcome – I’ve been spending most of my time here for the past few days…
• Music licensing companies come calling for royalties | floridatoday.com | Serving Brevard County and Florida’s Space Coast – In Australia it seems that even the smallest venue is worth shaking down for a few dollars. Don’t you love the music industry as it flails around, alienating everyone who might actually promote music and musicians in return for its cut. Like the mafia, bu
• 1. Eric Schmidt | Media | MediaGuardian.co.uk – Guardian makes Schmidt most powerful media exec in the world…
• BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Tate to be Doctor’s new companion – Dr Who jumps the shark. They said Russell Davies wanted to quit after four series – this will ensure nobody cares.

Here’s what I tagged on del.icio.us between July 1st and July 2nd:

• BBC NEWS | Technology | Are my online friends for real? – But how can I be sure that the Rory Cellan-Jones I’m friends with is realy him?
• Wendy’s Blog: Legal Tags: ICANN: Keep the Core Neutral, Stupid – Wendy Selzter, who I’ve admired for a long time, calls for a ‘stupid core’ to the network, but has as little faith in ICANN as the rest of us.

Here’s what I tagged on del.icio.us between June 29th and June 30th:

• Power Plays: How power consumption will shape the future of computing: Page 1 – Interest in green computing is growing fast
• The iPhone Challenge: Keep It Quiet | New York Times Video – David Pogue’s witty look at the iPhone
• Freedom to Tinker » Blog Archive » Behind the iPhone Frenzy – Interesting points from Ed Felten, though I think the differences in the mobile market between the US and Europe (and the rest of the world) make his perspective – and that of other US commentators- less relevant than they realise.

Here’s what I’ve tagged on del.icio.us on June 28th:

• Paul Linford: Labour comes home at last – I’d like to believe it…
• Freedom to Tinker » Blog Archive » Why CEOs and Companies Break the Law – Excellent article from the reliable Ed Felten on why Bernie Ebbers and other corrupt CEOs need severe punishment. I worked for PIPEX in the 90’s, bought by UUNET (after I left) and then absorbed by Worldcom, so watched the rise and fall of Ebbers carefull

Here’s what I’ve tagged on del.icio.us on June 24th:

• Slashdot | Stanford Gets First Sun Blackbox – I remember meeting John Gage of Sun in Madrid back in 2005 and he talked then about the idea of putting a data centre into a shipping container… now it’s happening 🙂
• blog.pmarca.com: Analyzing the Facebook Platform, three weeks in – Marc Andreesen – who some may remember from his time at Netscape or from the earlier days at NCSA where he coded Mosaic with Eric Bina – considers the real impact of the Facebook API.

Here’s what I tagged on del.icio.us between June 18th and June 20th:

• ‘Mr Nice Guy’ on no-fly list – Looks like it won’t be worth trying to get to the States again. Ah well…
• Technology Review: Mapping the Internet – Fascinating and innovative approach to mapping the network
• Anecdote: Why people don’t use collaboration tools – I’m trying again to learn to love Basecamp. But failing.

Excellent, if disturbing, view of China and the lack of any real possibility of democratic reform by Rick Perlstein in The Nation, focusing particularly on the reality of US foreign policy and its inability to confront the reality of Chinese ambition:

..their strange rationales followed a logic that helps explain our determinately myopic China watchers today. The explanation is, fundamentally, materialist. Its raw materials are the secret words sent by diplomatic cable and NSC strategic assessments. As George Kennan wrote in 1948: “We have about 50% of the world’s wealth but only 6.3% of its population…. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern for relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming…. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world benefaction.”

Found via Arts & Letters Daily 

I’m just back from Venice, where we’ve been reporting on the interplay between technology and art at the Biennale, the contemporary art festival that colonises the city every two years. There’s a lot to be said, and the programme (available on iTunes – search for Digital Planet – or  look on the BBC site) tries to convey something of the sense of this massive collection of installations, pavilions and events to anyone with an interest in technology.