Internet Archive – The Web In A Box
[ Comments Off ]Posted on March 26, 2009 by admin in Popular Media
Thursday, March 26th, 2009Thousands of hours of media and archived web content in a shipping container
I’m always a little amazed when I mention the Internet Archive to someone who spends a lot of time on the web, and they haven’t heard of it. If you’re not familiar with the site, it’s an incredible archive of film, audio, text, and even the internet itself. The Wayback Machine lets you visit sites that no longer exist, so we can enjoy lost treasures like RubberBurner.com, where you can learn some “FAST and BASIC facts” about Curry, “A slim and handsome race car driver” (a site which later turned out to be one of the first viral marketing campaigns). If you’re the kind of person who accidently spends hours on Wikipedia, the Internet Archive can be dangerous. The Prelinger Archive, for instance, not only has classic feature films like Un Chien Andalou, Night of the Living Dead, and Nosferatu available for download, but a wealth of often hilarious old commercials like the one featured at left from 1956 called Once Upon a Honeymoon, in which a (probably gay) angel descends from heaven to sprinkle fairy dust on the house of a young couple to ensure they have fashionable new phones before they go on their honeymoon. I’m especially drawn to the film section of the site, because of things like Cinemocracy, where they’ve archived 1940′s propaganda pieces by directors like John Ford, John Huston, and Frank Capra. If you’re a technophile, you’ll also find it pretty interesting that they’re moving the entire three petabyte archive into a shipping container, much like Google’s floating servers. Read the rest of this entry »
Recommendation Systems & The Napoleon Dynamite Problem
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on January 29, 2009 by admin in Popular Media
Thursday, January 29th, 2009When I Wanna Know What You Think I’ll Tell You
 Just kick back and let the software decide |
When you’re looking for some new music to listen to or a movie to rent, nothing beats the recommendation of a good friend. Except maybe a recommendation system. Yesterday a friend mentioned the music site Pandora while I was spending some time pretending I’m not addicted to Facebook (which uses recommender tools itself). Ironically, because of the consulting work I do, I often find myself telling clients to use things I don’t have time to use myself, and Pandora’s a good example of one of the things that you don’t know you’ll be using next year, but that you’ll be more familiar with than I am by the time it becomes pervasive. Recommender engines and software have been in use for some time; the most familiar version being the Amazon “if you like that, maybe you’ll like this” feature. What’s new in this field is that they’re getting REALLY GOOD at it. Something that used to be almost annoying will become something you actually demand. Why? As this CNNMoney piece puts it we’re “…leaving the era of search and entering one of discovery. What’s the difference? Search is what you do when you’re looking for something. Discovery is when something wonderful that you didn’t know existed, or didn’t know how to ask for, finds you.” With Google getting more and more spammed out every day, our mental processes getting more and more externalized, and our lives getting almost over-connected, I for one welcome our new media-recommending overlords. They just have to iron out that little Napoleon Dynamite Problem, and we’ll be all set (here’s a more in-depth look at problems faced by recommendation tools if you’re interested). So hey human, can you recommend a good book?
Innovid: Advertising You Might Actually Enjoy
[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 23, 2009 by admin in Popular Media
Friday, January 23rd, 2009In spite of Google’s $2 Billion purchase of YouTube, and the general public’s slowly growing awareness of services like Joost and Hulu (and soon Sling), no one has yet figured out how to effectively monetize these sites. I mean, if you want to see advertisements while you watch videos, why not just watch TV? And [...]
In spite of Google’s $2 Billion purchase of YouTube, and the general public’s slowly growing awareness of services like Joost and Hulu (and soon Sling), no one has yet figured out how to effectively monetize these sites. I mean, if you want to see advertisements while you watch videos, why not just watch TV? And you might as well put physical stickers on my TV screen if overlay ads (see this Wired piece about Overlay.tv) are the alternative. However, Tel Aviv-based startup Innovid may be onto something with their ideas for interactive in-video ad placements. Imagine an interactive version of the Fight Club Ikea catalog scene. The possibilities here are compelling. In the meantime, free stuff is free stuff. Stop sticking ads in my free stuff! If you want to make money, get clever like Monty Python, and guilt-trip your viewers into making you #2 in sales on Amazon.
Lose Your Keys? Big Brother Knows Where They Are
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on November 3, 2008 by admin in Technology
Monday, November 3rd, 2008And soon Google will have a service to make replacement keys for you!
I’m the kind of person who gets annoyed when Google takes my picture without asking. So the implications of these two technologies has staggering possibilities to me. First, UC San Diego researchers managed to use a photo taken with a telephoto lens to make a functional set of duplicate keys. Combine that with the incredible new image recognition technology in the presentation at left, and the possibilities are amazing. The clip is nine minutes long, but worth a watch (and probably much better full size). The software being discussed is called Photosynth, and what it does is analyze photos for similarities to others, then uses that data to build a model of where the photos were taken. This can theoretically be done with photos from all over the web, the info being gathered much like text is gathered by Google. Now that image recognition is becoming so sophisticated, is it possible that soon those automated help voices on the phone will understand what we’re saying?
Top To Bottom, Google’s Got You Covered
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on September 7, 2008 by admin in Technology
Sunday, September 7th, 2008Google’s plans for world domination now extend to your toilet.
From the screen you’re looking at right now to the sky outside your window, Google’s got it covered. Before you get too excited about Google’s new browser Chrome (and it is pretty cool), be mindful of the fact that in spite of all their talk about open-source and community (presented in comic book form, for an added feeling of harmlessness), this browser is part of their strategy to put all your software on their servers. If you’re comfortable having the same company handling your e-mail, providing all your web search results, and functioning as your office software while they watch you from above and at street level, enjoy your life. Personally, I’m starting to find Google a little scarier than the Bush administration. Especially now that they seem very interested in toilet tech, with rumours of cheap & easy to install bidet broadband on the way. And by the way, why does that Chrome logo look so familiar , anyway?