Clay Shirky on SOPA and PIPA and the history that got us here. Very, very sharp…even if he got the Jack Valenti quote wrong. :-)
(via Defend our freedom to share (or why SOPA is a bad idea) | Video on TED.com)
This has the potential to be massive. And make no mistake, it’s a shot right at Google, just from the other direction. What if the future of search isn’t web search, but data search (which includes web and native apps).
The Amazon/Google rivalry is quickly shaping up to be more intense than the Apple/Google rivalry.
Good scoop by Sarah Lacy. Undoubtedly the first of many.
Perpetual Beta was, to my knowledge, the first American Libraries blog written by a non-staff member. It was originally conceived of by myself and Sean Fitzpatrick as a way of highlighting edgy, interesting tech that pushed the boundaries of what might be considered “library technology.” I tried very hard to curate the content that it linked to in such a way that it might help illustrate where libraries have opportunities in technology that might not be completely obvious. I hope that some of you out there in libraryland found it useful, and got some measure of value out of the two years that I’ve been writing and curating Perpetual Beta.
The content that exists here on Perpetual Beta will continue to live here, so don’t worry about links breaking just yet. And while American Libraries may use this site or the Perpetual Beta name for other projects, if you’re looking for my stuff…well, here’s a short list of where you can still find my writing:
Pattern Recognition: http://www.jasongriffey.net/wp
ALA TechSource: http://www.alatechsource.org/blogger/16
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/griffey
Google+: https://plus.google.com/110359014984825004385/posts
I’m still deciding what I will do with the sort of content that I curated for Perpetual Beta. I may create a new site for it, or I may continue to use my Tumblr blog (http://perpetualbeta.tumblr.com/) to collect this sort of thing. Whatever I choose to do, if you’re interested in what I’ve done here at Perpetual Beta over the last two years, keep an eye on the above and I’ll announce it as soon as possible.
Thank you to everyone for reading, and thanks to American Libraries for keeping it going this long. If you can, drop a note here in the comments…I’d love to know if this has been valuable to you.
“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past…” - Thomas Jefferson
Really smart writing about 3D printing from one of the sharpest guys on the ‘net, Anil Dash. I agree with all but one of these suggestions: the one about bundling consumables into the cost of the device. A far better solution (and more likely one, long term) is self-recycling of raw materials. A house in the near future will have in it a machine that will mechanically disassemble your waste into useful blocks that can be then re-used for the creation of new things.
I was very disappointed to find out after reading the entire article that this app isn’t available in the App Store. It’s one of the most inventive things I’ve seen in some time, though. I imagine a similar interaction mechanism could be used for a lot of interesting things, human-to-human instead of human-to-swine.
Really amazing rundown of 3D printing, from services to hardware, by MAKE magazine. This is a perfect intro to the current state of the technology.
Amazon dives deep into being a publishing engine. It’s effectively a way for Amazon to incentivize authors to provide their works exclusively to Amazon for a period of timeInteresting pieces from the article:
“KDP Select is a new option that features a $6 million annual fund dedicated to independent authors and publishers. If you choose to make a book exclusive to the Kindle Store for at least 90 days, the book is eligible to be included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and you can earn a share of the fund based on how frequently the book is borrowed (click here to see how payments are calculated). In addition, by choosing KDP Select, you will have access to a new set of promotional tools, starting with the option to offer enrolled books free to readers for up to 5 days every 90 days. Authors and publishers can enroll a single title, their whole catalog or anything in between within KDP Select. ”
I’ve been talking about ubiquitous video capture for awhile now. Check these out to see the next generation.
I feel like I’ve been listing a ton of these Kickstarter style tech projects lately, but there are so many amazingly cool things being developed by individuals using the service that I can’t help it.
Here’s a new project trying to get a head start on the Internet-of-things, with a small wireless sensor that can be programmed via the ‘net to do things when triggered. Very interesting technology, and like all tech, it’s only gonna get cheaper and more prevalent.
I don’t often link to myself here at Perpetual Beta, but in this case the link roundup I put together for Pattern Recognition might be useful for libraries or librarians who want to play with the Kindle Fire. If you want to root your device, take a look at this post.
