What I would describe as curious and worrisome news out of the UK is circulating the blogosphere these days. That is because the UK government is considering a new internet model where websites would be rated (similar to how movies are already), and those which contain offensive or otherwise inappropriate material would not be shown. In other-words: censorship. I firmly believe that if no laws are being broken, that the internet should remain a free place for information to be shared.

Now that’s not to say the UK government has bad intentions, in fact, quite the opposite. They are clearly trying to protect minors from unwelcome and non-age appropriate material. However, in my opinion, the internet is not for kids, but rather adults. It should be up to the parents of web-using minors to police what their children do online, and install the necessary safeguards in order to protect them from dangerous websites. Or, you know, they could tell their children to go outside and play.

As for teenagers, somehow I think there are a lot more dangerous places for them to be hanging out than the internet. Rather than censoring everyone, why don’t we go back to teaching our kids common sense, and responsibility?

The web isn’t just changing how we live but also alters the way our brains work.

Gary Small, a neuroscientist from UCLA has discovered, by conducting research studies, that web search and text messaging has caused the brain to be more capable for filtering information and making quick decisions.

Gary Small stated that people of the next generation will ideally have a combination of technological and social skills.

The study looked at 24 adults using the Internet. They found that expert Internet users displayed twice the activity in areas of the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning as compared to Internet novices.

On the downside, Small believes that since Internet users constantly scan for new information, this can create and even damage neural pathways. While technology has been shown to accelerate learning and boost creativity it might also have the disadvantage of creating web addiction to virtual friends and there is some indication of computer use and increase in diagnoses of Attention Deficit Disorder. Any conclusive results are still pending.

A lot of webmasters may not even be aware of how much downtime their website experiences, having a false sense of security by host company’s promises of up-time. We simply can’t all be at our computers twenty four seven (nor would we want to be), or afford to hire a team of people in order to enjoy around the clock coverage.

In that regard, I would recommend signing up for a free account with Internet Uptime Monitoring Server Software, as they will actively monitor your website at regular intervals and provide notification if the website is unavailable. The service is able to notify the user via text message, to ensure you’re alerted no matter where you are.

Besides the obvious advantage of knowing when your website is down, a benefit to using this software, is that you can get a better idea of how reliable your web host is, and if necessary, make the switch to a hosting company that will better deliver on their promises. Personally, I have several websites, both blogs and static sites, and need to know if they are off-line, so I use the service as a necessity.

The latest news from United Kingdom’s major retail bankers says that if your online bank account has been compromised and you didn’t use any Internet computer security software such as antivirus and antispyware (e.g. Norton 360), you solely bear the responsibility for the loss, and they won’t compensate you a dime. A clause has been added to the newly updated Banking Code to make this very clear.

According to recent Internet safety and online identity fraud research, the British Police are being informed of a new cybercrime event every 10 seconds. This accounted for over GBP 300 million in financial loss for private and business bank customers in England in 2007. However, many online computer safety specialists claim that the vast majority of online crimes are never reported because they haven’t been detected or were of a lesser severity.

They don’t risk their lives to get money, they don’t shoot at anyone any more, and they don’t do any physical harm to their victims. Today’s crime is online crime and uses computer safety holes and threats in software and equipment to sneak money from peoples’ pockets while they’re sitting right in front of their laptops. No need to shoot nor to threaten anybody. Just a few smart code snippets smuggled into the victim’s PC via email or a booby-trapped website and you are done. Simple as that.

As Marcus Ranum, the author of The Myth of Homeland Security, explains, cybercrime delivers a criminal with a means of automation and the advantage of being anonymous. The criminal needs very little in terms of information technology knowledge or hardware and can cross global borders very fast, making it more effortless to hide and harder to be prosecuted.

So remember that you, the web user, are alone responsible for your doings online. And if you get your online banking password stolen and money robbed by cybercriminals, chances are no one except you will pay for this. Your identity is already an easy enough target for those knowing how to steal it. To minimize the chance of this happening, be sure to get yourself a copy of at least some of the free antivirus and antispyware software available.

With the news of Firefox 3 Beta 1 being released, I just couldn’t help myself. I wanted to see what was in store for the Orange Carnivore from Mountain View. A short 6.4MB download and I was installing; everything went without a hitch. Here’s the good and the bad of it all.

The Good

Lean: Overall Firefox seems so much leaner this time around. Even after hours of browsing with dozens of tabs open Firefox 3 is using about one-third less RAM than I typically see Firefox 2 use. The RAM savings didn’t come at the sacrifice of performance though, everything is notably quicker. Going back to previous pages, opening new ones, even the auto-completion when I typed in a URL seemed quicker. Even Google Maps seemed more responsive.

Features: While there is an entire list of changes in Firefox 3, Mozilla has added a notable one. The history and bookmarks have been combined into one database driven section called Places. Don’t be worried that the the UI has changed too much, on the surface most users won’t really notice the difference; it is more of a back end thing. They did add a new “Places” folder on the bookmark toolbar which can show recently viewed pages, tags, or starred pages. In addition, there is a completely revamped bookmarks organizer that will allow you to search your current bookmarks or history as well.

Some of the changes are much more subtle. The search box has been changed so that you can now resize it to any arbitrary size you want. When you scroll through tabs when there are more than can fit on the screen, they have added some animation to make it more clear what is happening.

If you zoom in or out on a webpage (ctrl-plus or ctrl-minus) you will notice that the whole page zooms now instead of just the text. While it is a nice feature in practice, the images look horrible when scaled up. I am still waiting for a browser that will do a smooth (read: bicubic/bilinear, not nearest neighbor) resize of a scale image. If the images looked good, this could be a major feature for those with old eyes that would just like everything to be bigger on the high DPI screens being sold today. It should be noted that version 3 also remembers your page-zoom settings on a site-by-site basis now too.

The Bad

Extensions: It can be summed up in one word, Extensions. While the extensibility of Firefox is a major feature (I probably like my set of extensions more than I like Firefox really), they are a huge problem when it comes to upgrades. Out of the eleven extensions I use, only one works with Firefox 3. That means, no weather, Gmail, Google Toolbar or Bookmark Sync, Image Zoom, Firebug, etc. Now I know some of these will probably be compatible by the time version three dot zero is released, but I’ll bet most of them still won’t. And until 95% of them work, I won’t be upgrading to Firefox 3.

The Verdict: Firefox 3 is a solid, but progressive upgrade. I won’t be adopting it though until at least six months after its release. I don’t know what the technical solution is for the Extensions, but Mozilla needs to figure out something with this. It is unacceptable that one of the biggest features of their product is incompatible from version to version. It happened when 1.5 came out, 2.0, and now 3.0. This is an area where Microsoft has typically excelled.

* Disclaimer: If you plan on checking out Firefox 3 for yourself, make sure you backup your Firefox user profile first.

Note: This article is cross-posted at PseudoSavant.

So the big technology news for today comes from Amazon. The company is trying to reinvent one of the forms of media which hasn’t taken off digitally: the book. Here’s what we know:

The eBook reader is called the Amazon Kindle and is priced at $399. It weighs 10.3 ounces and has a keyboard. It can hold 200 books via built-in memory and has a long battery life of approximately 30 hours (with 2 hours to recharge)

Bestsellers and new editions of books will be on sale for only $9.99 in a digital format. Users also can subscribe to newspapers such as the the New York Times or Wall Street Journal and magazines such as Fortune or Time. Newspaper subscriptions cost anywhere from $5.99 to $14.99 per month and magazines range from $1.25 to $3.49 per month. Interestingly enough, blogs will also be available for $0.99 per month. About 88,000 digital books will be on sale for the device on launch.

The Kindle’s six-inch screen uses display technology from E-Ink, which tries to replicate the clarity of a printed book. Perhaps the most significant feature is that the device functions independently of a computer and has wireless connectivity that is free. You can go to the eBook store, browse for books, check out recommendations, read reader reviews, post your own reviews, etc. all from the device itself.

Amazon is calling the wireless connectivity system Whispernet and has based it on the EVDO broadband service offered by Sprint. This means your online book buying can happen almost anywhere. It also allows some limited Internet connectivity via Wikipedia, Google search, and links followed from blogs and other sites.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, had some choice words at the launch: “This is the most important thing we’ve ever done… It’s so ambitious to take something as highly evolved as the book and improve on it. And maybe even change the way people read.”

Now for what we don’t know (but should know, in no particular order):

1. What is the warranty? Still unknown but likely at least one year like most gadgets (let us know if any of you can confirm details)

2. Is the battery built-in or can it be replaced? What technology does it use and how long (how many charges) before that 30 hours of battery life starts to die down? Yes, the batter can be replaced, it’s lithium

3. Will Amazon be offering these ebooks for sale to be used on anything other than the Kindle? Not confirmed but unlikely that these ebooks will work on anything but Amazon’s Kindle

4. How is it on the eyes? It sounds like a promising technology, but I personally notice a difference between staring at a screen for hours versus staring at a book. Which is it going to be more like? Apparently very easy on the eyes, “ePaper” reads almost exactly like regular paper

5. How will Internet usage be limited exactly? Also, if Amazon will be charging for blogs (content that is otherwise free online), what are the terms? Can blogs (like this one) request to be added for no charge as a potential free subscription for the consumer? You can browse directly to blogs using the device’s “Basic Web” browser for free, but it’s still unclear what the limitations are of this Internet browser

6. Is the wireless always on like a cellphone or can it be switched off? This would be good to know before trying to read on a flight, as any wireless activity is generally prohibited in flight. The wireless can be switched off separately, though there’s talk of tech consumers needing to educate flight attendants that this is, in fact, the case

7. Can you ever transfer your “read” copy of a book to someone else like you would in the real world? The answer looks like a big “no” but plans down the road? Even if the system somehow made sure that there could be only one book floating around per purchase, it’d be nice if there was a way to transfer/give books. There may be plans for this in the future, but right now the main reason for the highly discounted price of $9.99 per book is to make up for this limitation… Also, you can bind five or six devices to a single account and share books you’ve purchased to those accounts

8. Is this technology to be limited to those with deep pockets or are there plans to integrate into public libraries? Amazon is looking into how it could partner with libraries, but any more information on this isn’t really available at this time

9. A dictionary comes with the Kindle, and you can look up any word in any book. However, can you keep track of your dictionary usage for help in building your vocabulary? Or is each use of the dictionary an isolated incident unable to be stored anywhere? While currently the device doesn’t do this automatically, you can add annotations to text, just like you might write in the margins of a book. And because it is digital, you can edit, delete, and export your notes, highlight and clip key passages, and bookmark pages for future use

10. If this is to be marketed as a “green” initiative in any way (saving trees), what is this electronic device made out of and how should it be disposed of? Unknown at this point

As I’ve posted previously, I blame the Internet for my lack of reading books. But perhaps Amazon will change that for me by merging books with the Internet. Whatever the case, I don’t think I’m ready to be an early adopter. I want a few of my questions answered first and will wait for the first price drop (as will be the likely scenario for many so-called early adopters after the iPhone pricing fiasco).

In fact, speaking of the iPhone, there’s plenty of talk that Amazon’s pricey device will be a difficult buy when compared to the iPhone.

TriggerStreet bills itself as “the place to go if you wanted to find exposure and feedback for your Screenplays and Short Films online.” They also do short stories, and more recently, books. The idea is that you can upload your work and other people can critique it. And if enough people like it, maybe that will catch the eye of a filmmaker or a publisher.

I’m not sure of how much “exposure” uploading your materials will really bring, but TriggerStreet works just like a writers group. You share your work, others critique it. Then you return the favor by critiquing other folk’s work.

What makes Trigger interesting is that you must earn the right to upload your work. If you have an old script lying around, you can’t just throw it up on the site hoping that fame and fortune will find you. You first have to critique five other scripts. Only after you’ve given feedback can you upload your own work.

In a very real sense, TriggerStreet allows you to barter goods and services, albeit a limited spectrum of services.

Money, in its most basic sense, is a token. It functions as a medium of exchange. I perform work for person A who gives me bills and coins. I then take that paper and metal to somebody else, and I trade it for something I want. They didn’t want what I provided for person A, but that’s ok. We have money to represent that I’ve done something worthwhile, and I can trade it around to most people.

But TriggerStreet has taken money out of the mix. I’m trading my services (critiquing a movie or text) with other similar services. The nice thing is that the Internet provides millions of people, and the chances of me finding somebody who wants my services are pretty good. There are a lot of aspiring filmmakers and writers out there who need feedback. TriggerStreet allows them to find each other.

Another good example of this is BookMooch.com. On BookMooch you post books that you are willing to give away. When somebody requests one of your books, you pay the shipping and send it to them. By doing this you earn points. You can trade these points in for books from other people. No money is exchanged, except at the post office when you ship your books. It’s trading in its purest sense. Again, the benefit is that while most people would have no interest in my nine-year-old copy of Old Yeller, somewhere, somebody out there does want it. BookMooch, and sites like TriggerStreet, help people find each other.

But now, finding information to stay up-to-date on your news or hobbies? Who spends time actually searching for information they used to get in a magazine or newspaper? I know I don’t. It’s almost in front of me before I’m ready for it; I’m still catching up with what’s considered olds news because it’s been a couple days. Sites like Techmeme or Google News aggregate it for me. Combine that with my favorite RSS feeds via Google Reader (all of which are free daily updates of what I used to pay for via magazines or newspapers) and I have some good, quality information that interests me.

But when was the last time I read a book? I can’t remember; I’m too busy reading magazines and newspapers (or the Internet, which sounds worse? It’s really the same thing). I used to love reading books, but now I feel like they’re extremely long, time consuming, and lack variety (remember that most of what I read now is by a different author every page or two).

I’m not saying this with pride. In fact, it’s a little embarrassing. Not enough to keep me from posting it publicly, though. I’m curious to know if others have experienced this or a flavor of it. Does the Internet cause you to read books less?

                                                    
Check out more scenarios of how this technology works. Feel free to contact the team behind it if you have more questions.

It’s easy to spot revolutions or major events in the past. The shrinking of computer parts in the 70s, the PC revolution of the 80s that led to the Internet explosion of the 90s, etc. At the beginning of the new millennium, we had at our fingertips millions of pages of information. It wasn’t a question of ‘is it out there somewhere’, it was a question of ‘it’s out there, how do I find it?’

Enter Google. Google wasn’t the first search engine, nor was it the last, but it quickly became THE search engine because they did something different. Google created a search engine that took all of that information and made it useful and relevant. They did it not by teaching the machine to do it, but instead by teaching the machine to observe what we humans were linking to. By tapping into the social side of information, Google quickly became the best search engine for finding the information in the sea of content.

So the latest ‘big thing’ has been the socializing of the Internet. We now find sites like Digg, reddit, Del.icio.us, etc. that help us wade through all the rough to find the diamond. The buzz word surrounding all of this has been ‘Web 2.0′. This socializing has gone a long way to making sense of it all, but is there more? What is the next big thing?

Realtors have been giving us the answer for years, although they didn’t know it. The next big thing is…’location, location, location’.

Think of how we access all the information of the Internet. We do it at a desk where wires keep us attached to a specific location. Laptops help us branch out a bit, but even then we are tied to a wireless connection. Go too far and you no longer have access to information.

Mobile devices have begun to allow us to take this information with us, but we are still stuck in an old paradigm. If I am standing in the Madrid, Spain train station, there is a good chance I want to ride a train somewhere. But when I connect to the Internet on my mobile device, I’m stuck finding information the old way: through keywords. Somewhere out there is information that would help me, but all I have our my not-as-useful keywords.

The next big thing is to organize, tag, and link information to a specific location. Think of the last time you were at a national park. It’s a very good possibility that the only information you had about the park fit on a tri-fold paper that you picked up at the visitor’s station. In the information age, how is this acceptable?

Instead, imagine visiting the park where hundreds of visitors have linked information to specific locations. You have the architect of the visitor’s center who tells you the history of the building. As you move around the park you access information provided by geologists, geographers, botanists, biologists, environmental scientists, conservationists, hiking enthusiasts, bikers, etc. etc. etc. The information is useful because it’s relevant to the location. And it becomes manageable in the same way that the 10s of millions of pictures on flickr have become manageable, through tagging.

If I’m driving down a dirt road, I can access the Internet, enter in the keywords, “eat, roast beef sandwich’. The next time I pass within 5 miles of an Arby’s, my device let’s me know. Or if I have my mountain bike on the back of my car, I search for the keywords ‘mountain bike trails’. Every time I come within a few miles of a trail, my GPS device alerts me.

We’re beginning to see the first threads of this next big idea. Pictures and Wikipedia articles are now linked to Google Earth. You can access information about a location, but it’s still at your desk. The real revolution will come when this information can be accessed completely and easily from a mobile device, while you’re at that location.

Today we have access to an unfathomable amount of information. Web 2.0 has helped us begin to organize and make sense of that information. Tying information to a location is the next step and will literally open up a whole new world.

Here’s hoping the next iPhone has a built-in GPS.

marionjensen at gmail dot com

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1. iPod. An obvious first pick. But I seriously have no clue how anyone who likes music can live without one of these babies (or another quality mp3 player). I have vague memories of not hating my life before I got one, but then again it’s hard to be sure. Recently my old iPod Mini bit the dust and it took me about a month to replace it. My brand spankin’ new 80 gig iPod Video finally came a few weeks ago, and I was complete again. Because of the iPod, the music industry finds itself needing to be reinvented. Digital music downloads (fully and, ahem, partly legal) have become ubiquitous and podcasting is now a popular new information medium thanks largely to the iPod.

2. TiVo. No longer must we be jerked around by TV programming schedules and advertisers! By letting us choose when we want to watch our favorite shows, TiVo (as do DVRs in general) helps us watch more of the TV we want to watch, while magically seeming to reduce our total time in front of the tube. Huzzah! (Or maybe I’m just fooling myself with the whole “reduce total TV time bit” . . . )

3. MapQuest. Does anyone even remember how they got anywhere, say, ten years ago? Not me. I don’t recall using maps that much, and ten years ago we didn’t all have cell phones like we do today to call from the road. Did we give out a lot more directions to people? I honestly don’t even know. Actually, I tend to use Google Maps these days, but still—MapQuest gets the props for changing the paradigm of travel directions. That we get so upset at the tiniest map error just shows how completely online directions have insinuated themselves into our lives.

4. Netflix. The option never to walk into another Blockbuster alone is amazing! Also, I never realized how lacking my local video stores were in titles until I started looking around online at what the possibilities were. Even if you prefer Blockbuster Online, the movie rental business has been completely revamped in the last several years, and for the better. ]]> http://www.techconsumer.com/2007/07/10/four-technology-and-internet-innovations-that-unexpectedly-changed-my-life/feed/ 8