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Google street view mirror selfies
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1 min read
We’ve gone from the invention and proliferation of 15th century mirrors to human iPhone selfies, to the Google street view robot taking pictures of itself off mirrors. Progress.
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Everything starts on paper
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2 min read
Everything starts on paper. Whether you are using post-it notes or loose leaf, paper is ideal for getting down thoughts and mapping out ideas quickly. In fact, some Google employees prohibit phones and use paper exclusively to brainstorm. The magic of writing in analog is a controlled speed, flexibility, and focus. “Everyone can write words, draw…
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We have reached peak screen
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2 min read
The smartphone hypnotizes us into screen glaring addicts. We have zero control of our attention and it makes us feel like we’re losing our mind. Writes Farhad Manjoo in his piece We Have Reached Peek Screen: Screens are insatiable. At a cognitive level, they are voracious vampires for your attention, and as soon as you…
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‘The internet’s ownership of words’
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2 min read
The internet owns our words. Anyone can pull up an old Tweet or Facebook post and show you ‘this is what you said.’ The internet makes permanent the written word. But such posts are usually “naked and without context.” Words get lost in time It’s not that people don’t look at the time stamp; it’s…
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Are we selling our souls for ads? Technosociologist Zeynep Tufecki seems to think so. The Cambridge Analytica-Facebook debacle demonstrates the Wild West of data exploitation. Facebook can’t pin the blame on the machine-optimizing algorithms. It’s humans who are responsible for managing the equations and policing validity. A recent study also proved that it is humans,…
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Make it new
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2 min read
“Reality is an activity of the most august imagination,” wrote poet Wallace Stevens. What we call reality emerged from human ingenuity. So if we can take today’s tools and use them for good, we’ll naturally have a better future. Instead, we are building technology that paints a future dystopia. Hackers hijacked Facebook, Google, and Twitter…
Writing about life and arts
