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Thu, 100211
Iain M. Banks
Filed under: Technology -v- Culture, Writin' — Rick @ 215023UTC

Per suggestions from my friend Rufus Blooter (and others), I’ve started to dig into Banksy’s … I mean Banks’s work. The Player of Games was Rufus’ initial suggestion. I enjoyed it and loved the idea of The Culture, but found the characters flat and the prose uninspiring. Now I’m working through Use of Weapons, and finding it to be a much better read — better-rounded characters, prose that sings, and a structure that heightens the narrative arc.

Thu, 100107
The Cloud -v- the Paradise of Infinite Storage
Filed under: Media, Musicality, Technology -v- Culture — Rick @ 142102UTC

In other words, what’s the value of the cloud when the cost of storage is declining precipitously? Or, conversely, what’s the point in buying lots of storage — however cheap it is — when we all have access to the cloud pretty much whenever and wherever we want?) Last year, my pal Sandy Pearlman and I discussed this during a session at the Future of Music Coalition’s annual Policy Summit in Washington DC.

Below the fold, I’ve posted an essay Sandy wrote to set up the topic, followed by a couple of responses:

(more…)

Sat, 090530
Hey, I made Snopes!
Filed under: Media, Technology -v- Culture — Rick @ 185526UTC

Proof that April Fool’s jokes can take on lives of their own.

Sat, 090307
For? Four? Vier? Fer?
Filed under: Media, Technology -v- Culture — Rick @ 040722UTC

My pal zim posts on this bit of linguistic archaeology. Me? I’m skeptical. I suspect that this is a bit of fellow friend Rufus Blooter’s observation that a lot of science reporting is pants. In this case, basic issues are left underexamined, e.g. when the researchers report that “stick” is an English word that’s likely to atrophy and die on (relatively) short order, do they mean the noun or the verb? They’re two quite different things. And there’s little sense in the BBC piece that underlies zim’s post about whether the researchers take into account the fact that while English is an Indo-European language, it’s no longer spoken exclusively in European (or Subcontinental) confines. Which is to say, it’s North American and global and hence quite likely evolving … differently.

Thu, 090108
Filed under: Technology -v- Culture — Rick @ 022848UTC
Fri, 080822
Can we make a new rule?
Filed under: Media, Politics, Technology -v- Culture — Rick @ 040324UTC

Campaign ads are not automatically newsworthy. Certainly not worthy of time on newscasts until they’ve proven themselves so. That’s called “free airtime”, y’all. That is all.

Tue, 080805
Need help
Filed under: Media, Politics, Technology -v- Culture — Rick @ 040629UTC

I want to write a post heded: Ironic irony in which I point out pithily that conservatives decry ‘ironic detachment’ and lament that young people no longer embrace causes greater than themselves, their friends, and their possessions. Yet when the left coalesces with (some) enthusiasm behind an emphatically non-ironic and in-pursuit-of-something-bigger-than-any-of-us candidate, suddenly those values are worthy of mockery.

What I’m missing is links to articles in which conservatives decry ‘ironic detachment’ and so on. Any love?

Wed, 070919
iPhone Troubles a Thing of the Past
Filed under: Technology -v- Culture — Rick @ 230208UTC

I’ve been slow with this post: The repaired phone came back, no problem, and has been working fine. The only irksome thing is this: When my wife had a similar problem, only worse — her whole screen went dead — and brought her unit to the Soho Apple Store, she was simply handed a new iPhone. No loaner, no fee. Grrrr.

Sun, 070826
iPhone Troubles Update
Filed under: Technology -v- Culture — Rick @ 233316UTC

I now have a loaner iPhone from Apple — an 8GB model with “AppleCare Service” embossed on the back. So far, I’d say Apple’s performance has been decent, but far from exceptional.

(more…)

iPhone Troubles
Filed under: Technology -v- Culture — Rick @ 054820UTC

Saturday was the warmest day in New York since I bought my iPhone. It was also the day when my iPhone developed a dead zone.

That means that right now, my iPhone is one step away from being a $500 brick. I can receive calls — if the touchscreen is locked, that is — but I can’t make them. Nor can I send SMS, check my email, or use the Safari browser.

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