Microlog
19 Microlog entries tagged with ‘wired’
The Perpetual, Invisible Window Into Your Gmail Inbox
It’s funny, I know this is a thing that people do, but it’s never occurred to me to allow any third party to have access to my Gmail. I’ve got no problem OAuth-ing services on my public Twitter account. There’s an implicit line between the stuff for all to see and the stuff that’s just for me, and I guess that’s what guides my decisions when it comes to my personal data. Technobabble ·
Why Some Wild Animals Are Becoming Nicer
Well it’s only one animal really, the bonobo, which has long had a reputation for its peacefulness. But it’s interesting to see how that nature may have developed from something as simple as the habitat their ancestors happened to find themselves in. Science & Nature ·
Spelling: A Rebuttal From Wired’s Copydesk
Specifically, a rebuttal of Anne Trubek’s assertion that we should do away with spelling rules altogether. I’ve long argued about this, being both a subeditor and one who condones conversational grammar: we need to learn the rules before we can break them. Arts & Culture ·
The Damning Backstory Behind “Homeless Hotspots” at SXSWi
“This is my worry: the homeless turned not just into walking, talking hotspots, but walking, talking billboards for a program that doesn’t care anything at all about them or their future, so long as it can score a point or two about digital disruption of old media paradigms. So long as it can prove that the real problem with homelessness is that it doesn’t provide a service.” When I saw the first headlines about Homeless Hotspots, I would have bet money it was an Onion satire. But it’s very real, and very disappointing. Arts & Culture ·
Weight Watchers Revamps Its Magic Formula
A profile of WeightWatchers head David Kirchhoff and the changes he’s made to the programme. I’ve been on the new plan (called ProPoints over here) for nine months now, and it’s been working for me; the weekly weigh-ins and the tracking facilitate the small iterations to my eating patterns and general activity levels that are making a world of difference. Science & Nature ·
A SOPA/PIPA Blackout Explainer
Wired’s Threat Level blog lays it all out in point-by-point form. Current Affairs ·
The Video Remix ‘Supercut’ Comes of Age
Andy Baio’s brief history of this web video phenomenon. It’s the kind of creativity that bullshit legislation like SOPA would kill stone dead. Arts & Culture ·
Google Kills Its Other Plus, and How to Bring It Back
I haven’t used it in a long time — I’ve always been a quotes guy — but it does have a very specific application that hasn’t really been substituted here. When Google starts messing up search, that’s not a good sign. Technobabble ·
Q&A: The unappreciated benefits of dyslexia
Makes sense to me. Science & Nature ·
From Kindle to Fire: Why Amazon Needs to Go Global
With everyone gushing over the new Kindles, Tim Carmody’s the only one who noticed that for the most part, they’re US-only (particularly the Fire, which matters diddly-squat to anyone who can’t access Amazon’s streaming media). Technobabble ·
Big DIY: The Year the Maker Movement Broke
New tools and technologies mean that stuff like this is no longer the preserve of the boffins of yore. Arts & Culture ·
The Incredible True Story of the Collar Bomb Heist
A very sad tale of man’s inhumanity to man. Interesting ·
‘March Backwards Into the Future’ — Marshall McLuhan’s Century
Notes on The Medium Is The Massage. Which reminds me, I’ve still to read Understanding Media. Media & Journalism ·
Google+ Identity Crisis: What’s at Stake With Real Names and Privacy
Google is overreaching with this ‘real names only’ thing. It’s not about combatting trolls; it’s about making money out of ‘knowing’ its users as individuals. Yet they could still do this while allowing users to keep their real names hidden; why they haven’t is a mystery. Arts & Culture ·
Scale-Model Stadium Freezes a Moment of Baseball’s Past
Quite seriously, I would love to have the skill and the patience to create something like this. Interesting ·
Why the future doesn’t need us
“Our most powerful 21st-century technologies — robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech — are threatening to make humans an endangered species.” I’ve already Instapaper’d this to read on my Kindle. Interesting ·
7 Essential Skills You Didn’t Learn in College
Good stuff here. And if I might add to the reading list for statistical literacy: Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science column. Interesting ·
Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die
Everybody and their dog has already linked to this, but anyway. I get what Patton Oswalt is saying (I feel his dismay at his treasured obscuria being co-opted by the mainstream) but for me, the age of Everything That Ever Was — Available Forever is a dream come true. Arts & Culture ·
Russell M Davies: On the structure of time
“I think the explanation is simple: weeks make sense to us, months just don’t.” This! Interesting ·
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This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a production journalist and mediavore in Dublin, Ireland. Read more »
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This page lists all Microlog entries by MacDara Conroy tagged with ‘wired’. You will find many more entries sorted by month and by category in the Archives.
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