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Exposing content via APIs - Fluidinfo's Terry Jones on the role of APIs in the future of publishing.
November 21, 2011
APIs enable developers to work with your content like a box of Legos, building solutions you may never have dreamed of. In this TOC podcast, Fluidinfo CEO Terry Jones says the real world is "writable" and describes how APIs can offer powerful publishing solutions.
Jonathan's Card: Lessons from a social experiment - What happens when everyone has access to your Starbucks card? Jonathan Stark found out.
November 21, 2011
Jonathan Stark raised eyebrows last summer when he made his Starbucks card available for anyone to use. Here, Stark looks back on the "Jonathan's Card" experiment and examines its lessons.
Four short links: 21 November 2011 - Early Jobs, Personal Computing Sticks, Short-Sighted Profits, and Ford's Software Business
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 21, 2011
Steve Jobs in Early NeXT Days (YouTube) -- documentary footage of the early retreats at NeXT, where Jobs talks about plans and priorities. Very interesting to watch this knowing how the story ends. I'm astonished by how well Jobs spoke, even then, and delighted by the glimpses of impatience and dismissiveness. I wonder where the raw footage went. (via...
Visualization of the Week: A better U.S. migration map - Jon Bruner updates his "American Migration" viz with more data and new code.
November 18, 2011
Jon Bruner's new and improved "American Migration" visualization lets you click on a specific U.S. county and see where folks move from and where they move to.
Developer Week in Review: Adobe sends Flex to Apache - Flex goes FLOSS, some cheap Pi, and brain on a chip.
November 18, 2011
Adobe just gave away Flex, a new single-board computer might dethrone Arduino as the tool of choice for makers, and researchers bring us a step closer to our robotic overlords.
Four short links: 18 November 2011 - Quantified Learner, Text Extraction, Backup Flickr, and Multitouch UI Awesomeness
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 18, 2011
Learning With Quantified Self -- this CS grad student broke Jeopardy records using an app he built himself to quantify and improve his ability to answer Jeopardy questions in different categories. This is an impressive short talk and well worth watching. Evaluating Text Extraction Algorithms -- The gold standard of both datasets was produced by human annotators. 14 different...
Publishing News: Tech patent wars spill into the book world - B&N takes issue with Microsoft's patents, Congress held a SOPA hearing, and authors decry Amazon's Lending Library.
November 18, 2011
B&N's position against Microsoft was made public, causing quite a dust-up. Also, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) hearing was as controversial as the Act itself, and the Authors Guild says the Kindle Owner's Lending Library breaches contracts.
The future of social media at the National Archives - The National Archives described a dashboard for "citizen archivists" at a recent forum in D.C.
November 18, 2011
A recent forum at the National Archives featured a preview of a "citizen archivist dashboard" and a lively discussion of the past, present and future of social media.
Top Stories: November 14-18, 2011 - America's tech schizophrenia, why Apple fans don't like Android, and the terrifying importance of embedded systems.
November 18, 2011
This week on O'Reilly: Doug Hill used Steve Jobs and Ted Kaczynski to examine America's love/hate relationship with technology, Mike Loukides criticized mobile carriers for messing with Android's UI, and engineer Elecia White shared her enthusiasm for embedded systems.
Understanding Apple fans - There's a gap between Google's version of Android what the mobile carriers deliver.
November 17, 2011
AT&T and other carriers are not helping Android, or themselves, by turning a great product into a second-rate one. And maybe I'm getting soft in my old age, but I now understand what Apple fans hate about Android.
What we could do with really big touchscreens - Ten-inch tablets are just the start of the touchscreen publishing revolution.
November 17, 2011
If we could combine the touchscreen's ability to signal our layout wishes with the large displays and workspaces that many of us enjoy at our work desks, wouldn't that change the kinds of documents we create?
Strata Week: Why ThinkUp matters - ThinkUp and data ownership, DataSift turns on its Twitter firehose, and Google cracks opens the door to BigQuery.
November 17, 2011
Data democratization gets an important new tool with the release of ThinkUp 1.0. Also, DataSift offers another way to get the Twitter firehose, and Google offers a little more access to its BigQuery data analytics service.
Why we needed EPUB 3 - New reading devices, multimedia storytelling and accessibility needs made EPUB3 a necessity.
November 17, 2011
EPUB3 is more than just bug fixes and tweaks from the last version. It represents a major change in what an ebook can be. (This is an excerpt from the Tools of Change for Publishing report, "What is EPUB3
Four short links: 17 November 2011 - University Relevance, Free as in Dom, Patent Trolls, and Facebook Teams
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 17, 2011
Questioning University -- my take on the issue of whether a university education (particularly CS) is still relevant or whether kids should go straight to startups. So what do I tell my kids? Should I urge them to go to university? Should I tell them to jack it all in and run off and join a startup? This is...
Commerce Weekly: Bring your mobile to Black Friday - Retailers accept mobile's in-store presence, Android developers are keen on Kindle Fire, and Square rewards loyalty.
November 17, 2011
Brick-and-mortar retailers adopt the "if you can't beat 'em ..." attitude toward mobile devices. Elsewhere, Android developers are intrigued by the Kindle Fire, and Square wants to put loyalty program punch cards out to pasture. (Commerce Weekly is produced as part of a partnership between O'Reilly and PayPal.)
Publishers need broader and broader shoulders - From HTML5 to metadata to managing rights, increasingly complex content management issues fall squarely on publishers.
November 16, 2011
It's more challenging than ever to handle all aspects of content management internally. In this podcast, Firebrand Technologies founder and president Fran Toolan addresses a myriad of content management issues.
Why embedded systems are "terrifyingly important" - Embedded systems engineer Elecia White on race cars, smart dust, and learning on the fly.
November 16, 2011
Author and embedded systems engineer Elecia White discusses the state of embedded systems and what lies ahead (hint: distributed intelligence and microdots).
Four short links: 16 November 2011 - Mozilla's World View, USB Power, Farm Automation, and CSS Reference
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 16, 2011
Q&A with Rob O'Callahan (ComputerWorld) -- an excellent insight into how Mozilla sees the world. In particular how proprietary mobile ecosystems are the new proprietary desktop ecosystems, and how the risks for the web are the same (writing for one device, not for all). Bikes That Charge USB Devices -- German bicycle maker Silverback has recently launched two bikes...
Helping educators find the right stuff - The Learning Registry looks to crack the education resource discovery problem.
November 15, 2011
There are countless repositories of high-quality content available to teachers, but it is still nearly impossible to find content to use with a particular lesson plan for a particular grade aligned to particular standards. That's where the Department of Education's new Learning Registry comes in.
HTML5 for publishers: Drawing on the screen - Add a painting tool to a book with HTML5's Canvas.
November 15, 2011
This excerpt from "HTML5 for Publishers" shows how a simple finger painting canvas can be added to an HTML5-based children's book
Four short links: 15 November 2011 - Internet Asthma Care, C Fulltext, Citizen Science, and Mozilla
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 15, 2011
Cost-Effectiveness of Internet-Based Self-Management Compared with Usual Care in Asthma (PLoSone) -- Internet-based self-management of asthma can be as effective as current asthma care and costs are similar. Apache Lucy -- full-text search engine library written in C and targeted at dynamic languages. It is a "loose C" port of Apache Lucene™, a search engine library for Java. The...
Civic media competition attracts a new generation of change agents - A global conversation with finalists in Ashoka's civic media innovation competition.
November 14, 2011
Finalists in the Ashoka Foundation's civic media competition offered honest and perceptive observations about the role of civic media in the expanding information ecosystem.
Not a self-publisher, far from a traditional publisher - Jesse Potash on how he's approaching the publishing model differently with Pubslush Press.
November 14, 2011
In this podcast, Jesse Potash, founder of Pubslush Press, talks about how his company differs from self-publishing platforms — and from Kickstarter — and how he's using it to help eradicate global illiteracy.
Steve Jobs, the Unabomber, and America's love/hate relationship with technology - Technological schizophrenia is an American tradition.
November 14, 2011
Steve Jobs and Ted Kaczynski represent the extreme poles of a deep-seated ambivalence in our attitudes toward technology. It's an ambivalence that's been a part of American history, and part of the American psyche, since the beginning.
Four short links: 14 November 2011 - Science Hack Days, YouTube Doggy Science, Antisocial Software, and Mind Reading with Wikipedia
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 14, 2011
Science Hack Day SF Videos (justin.tv) -- the demos from Science Hack Day SF. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a Hack Day. A Cross-Sectional Study of Canine Tail-Chasing and Human Responses to It, Using a Free Video-Sharing Website (PLoSone) -- Approximately one third of tail-chasing dogs showed clinical signs, including habitual (daily or "all the time")...
Publishing News: The standards of aggregation - Jim Romenesko quits after his attribution standards are questioned, Rakuten buys Kobo, and readers will wait for ebooks.
November 11, 2011
Jim Romenesko's departure raises questions about aggregation standards. Also, Japanese e-retailer Rakuten buys Kobo, and a new BISG study shows readers are embracing digital formats.
Top Stories: November 7-11, 2011 - Tim O'Reilly on ebooks, confessions of a not-so-public speaker, and why social network analysis matters.
November 11, 2011
This week on O'Reilly: Tim O'Reilly looked at the past and future of ebooks, Suzanne Axtell shared her first steps toward becoming a public speaker, and we learned that social network analysis goes far beyond social networks.
Visualization of the Week: 138 Years of Popular Science - Data artist Jer Thorp visualized the Popular Science archive.
November 11, 2011
This week's visualization shows how data artist Jer Thorp depicted more than a century's worth of content from Popular Science.
Confessions of a not-so-public speaker - If you want the tech community to have diversity, you need to be the change.
November 11, 2011
Stepping out of our comfort zones and into the spotlight at events (and encouraging others to do likewise) can help address the perception that the tech community is solely populated by young white guys.
Four short links: 11 November 2011 - Technocracy's Blind Spot, Progressive Enhancement, Libraries and ebooks, and Library Fablab
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 11, 2011
Nudge Policies Are Another Name for Coercion (New Scientist) -- This points to the key problem with "nudge" style paternalism: presuming that technocrats understand what ordinary people want better than the people themselves. There is no reason to think technocrats know better, especially since Thaler and Sunstein offer no means for ordinary people to comment on, let alone correct,...
Developer Week in Review: Adobe raises the white flag on mobile Flash - Adobe immobilized mobile Flash, Eclipse joins the vanity language fad, and one man asks if brainteasers really find good program
November 10, 2011
Flash isn't dead, but Adobe is checking into hospice options. Eclipse adds another language to the list of ones almost but not exactly like Java. And how do you find good programmers? Probably not with brainteasers.
Commerce Weekly: Chasing down abandoned shopping carts - Abandoned shopping carts, Intuit cuts AT&T subscribers a break, and PayPal dips its toe into NFC.
November 10, 2011
In the latest commerce news: Online retailers want to reunite customers with their abandoned shopping carts, Intuit aims at Square with a deal for AT&T subscribers, and PayPal takes a baby step toward NFC. (Commerce Weekly is produced as part of a partnership between O'Reilly and PayPal.)
Access or ownership: Which will be the default? - The ease of access and the desire to own appear to be on a collision course.
November 10, 2011
Business, media, publishing, data, education — these are all areas where access vs. ownership has organically popped up in Radar's coverage. But which model will win out in the long term?
Looking for KDD contenders - Trying to crack a tough data problem? Submit it to the KDD Cup challenge.
November 10, 2011
Organizers of this year's KDD Cup data mining challenge are looking for data problems in areas such as medicine, education, the environment, or anything that leads to a social good. Submissions are due by November 15.
Four short links: 10 November 2011 - Access Over Ownership, Retro Programming, Replaying Writing, and Wearable Sensors
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 10, 2011
Steve Case and His Companies (The Atlantic) -- Maybe you see three random ideas. Case and his team saw three bets that paid off thanks to a new Web economy that promotes power in numbers and access over ownership. "Access over ownership" is a phrase that resonated. (via Walt Mossberg) Back to the Future -- teaching kids to program...
Strata Week: The social graph that isn't - Pinboard founder questions the social graph, Cloudera and Kaggle raise money for big data.
November 10, 2011
In this week's data news, Pinboard founder Maciej Ceglowski challenges the notion of a "social graph," Cloudera and Kaggle raise money for big data, and the Supreme Court looks at GPS and privacy issues.
Social network analysis isn't just for social networks - Social network analysis (SNA) finds meaningful patterns in relationship data.
November 9, 2011
The scientific methodology of social network analysis (SNA) helps explain not just how people connect, but why they come together as well. Here, "Social Network Analysis for Startups" co-author Maksim Tsvetovat offers a primer on SNA.
Four short links: 9 November 2011 - Social Graph Dismissed, Anonymous Explained, Resistance Explored, and Android Improved
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 9, 2011
The Social Graph is Neither -- Maciej Ceglowski nails it. Imagine the U.S. Census as conducted by direct marketers - that's the social graph. Social networks exist to sell you crap. The icky feeling you get when your friend starts to talk to you about Amway, or when you spot someone passing out business cards at a birthday party,...
Links on the side - A simple solution for including hyperlinks without undermining focus.
November 8, 2011
Digital documents that help readers focus are the ones that we're most likely to remember. Those that send us scampering around the web will be more easily forgotten.
Thoughts on ebooks triggered by the appointment of Andrew Savikas as CEO of Safari Books Online
November 8, 2011
Subscription is the right model for heavy users, pay-per-view works for occasional users, ad-supported appears to be the best way to fund fast-changing current content, and of course, some content is better rendered as an app than a book.
Do agent-publishers carry a conflict of interest? - How agent-publishers came to be, and what they mean for the publishing world.
November 7, 2011
Booksquare's Kassia Krozser discusses the emerging agent-publisher role, and why she's concerned about a conflict of interest.
Three game characteristics that can be applied to education - A tech-focused look at how "leveling up," collaboration, and play can be woven into learning experiences.
By Marie BjeredeNovember 7, 2011
Cloud technologies and thoughtful roadmapping of digital technology can ensure that authenticity, social interaction, and play remain central components of education.
Four short links: 7 November 2011 - City Finances, Low-Power Computers, Future History, and Learner's Mindset
By Nat TorkingtonNovember 7, 2011
California and Bust (Vanity Fair) -- Michael Lewis digs into city and state finances, and the news ain't good. Tonido Plug 2 -- with only watts a day, you could have your own low-cost compute farm that runs off a car battery and a cheap solar panel. William Gibson Interview (The Paris Review) -- It's harder to imagine the...
Top Stories: October 31-November 4, 2011 - An author turns to automation, a look at privacy in the age of big data, and a simple rule for data ethics.
November 4, 2011
This week on O'Reilly: Former author Robbie Allen explained his shift to software-generated writing, Terence Craig said transparency is the best way to handle digital privacy, and we learned how a simple question can keep data companies honest.
The maker movement's potential for education, jobs and innovation is growing - "MAKE" founder Dale Dougherty was named a "Champion of Change" by the White House.
November 4, 2011
Dale Dougherty, one of the co-founders of O'Reilly Media, was honored by the White House as a "Champion of Change" for his work on "MAKE" Magazine, MakerFaire and the broader DIY movement.
Publishing News: Early response to the Kindle Lending Library - Amazon launched its Kindle Lending Library, and a publisher goes after BitTorrent users.
November 4, 2011
Amazon Prime became even more pervasive with the Kindle Lending Library, the publishing industry joined the piracy lawsuit fray, and presentation videos from the Books in Browsers conference are now available.
The problem with Amazon's Kindle Owners' Lending Library - The Kindle Lending Library needs a pay-for-performance model, not a flat fee.
November 4, 2011
For Amazon's new lending program to be mutually beneficial, the flat-fee compensation model needs to be replaced by a usage spectrum: The more a title is borrowed, the higher the fee to the publisher and author.
Visualization of the Week: How dance music travels - "The Evolution of Western Dance Music" plots the spread of dance genres.
November 4, 2011
A visualization traces 100 years of Western dance music, showing how genres are seamlessly imported and exported across continents.
World of Warcraft and Minecraft: Models for our educational system? - How two games can help student engagement.
November 4, 2011
Massively multiplayer games like World of Warcraft can teach communication and the higher-order skills needed to achieve collective goals. Simple, rule-based games, such as Minecraft, showcase the value of preservation and exploration.
Why developers should enter health IT contests - Developers can make money writing code that makes patients safer.
By Fred TrotterNovember 4, 2011
Working on software that addresses patient safety issues is one of the few ways that a software developer can impact quality of life rather than convenience of life. Health contests are fun enough that you might even forget that you're changing the world.
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