Technobabble

What’s the Internet?
The old story of the changing face of media is news to many, even those in the industry. Media owners with foresight have transformed much of their ink into ones and zeros delivered via the Worldwide Interwebs (though free weeklies such as the CN&R and The Bay Guardian seem to be less affected by the deserting readers and ad dollars than other media).

Last month the presses at the 90-year-old Wisconsin daily The Capital Times shut down as the paper went completely digital. And now television shows ranging from Lost to the original Twilight Zone can be viewed online for free on sites like hulu.com.

For the media makers with foresight, we’ll see you online; for everyone else, rest in peace.

Grand Theft video game
I love to write about studies that prove video games don’t lead to violence and crime, but, alas, I must show the other side. As I type, gamers across the United States are playing Grand Theft Auto IV—the most anticipated game of the year—on the first day of its release. But it’s not these thumb-strong gamers who are committing crime; it’s the deliverers of the game. Three UPS employees were caught and promptly fired for lifting the Rockstar game designed for the PS3 and Xbox360. According to the blog Ars Technica, these three brown-polyester-outfit-wearing individuals stole single copies of GTA IV, most likely for personal use, as opposed to boxes of many games for resale on eBay.

Brains are so passé
I was a bit bugged-out when I Google Mapped a friend’s house and a photo of her abode popped up! Is everything recorded on Google? Now I’m reading about Evernote.com: “A backup for your brain.” Take a photo, or scan an image or document or save a Web site on any digital device with Internet access and upload the information to Evernote’s servers. Evernote data mines your document and stores it with the metadata, which then can be searched from anywhere with Internet access.

For example, you hand me your business card. I take a photo of you and your card with my cell phone and upload it to my Evernote account. I can add notes, such as your name, or let their system attach various notes. When I later search from my WiFi-enabled laptop or my work computer or my friend’s cell phone, I can access this information any time!

I have not saved a phone number to my own gray matter since buying my first cell phone a decade ago, and now I don’t have to remember anything; the robots will do it for me.

Wacky Web site of the week
Here is another way to wile away the work day: grab a Post-it pad and let your inner artist out. Scan your Post-it art and send it to The Post-It Project blog or just scroll through a year’s worth of miniature artwork. thepostitproject.blogspot.com