Worm in the Apple iPad

Despite the iPad not yet being officially released in our little ‘pore yet, apparently Singaporeans are one of the most iPad-crazy countries in the world, judging by data from auction website eBay. (see here)

Image via CrunchBase

Apple said that it will release the iPad in July for another nine markets, including Singapore, however, after much fanfare, to tell you the truth (though I still love the iPhone) Im getting sick of the whole Apple = gawd routine.

Lets check in on the grass roots indicator on iPad:

Technometry friend who has played with the Ipad says: no expandable storage, no go.
Work colleague who has also got her hands on them says; just like a big iphone, – can play Angry Birds on bigger screen, but thats about it

Did a search on features that suck on the iphone, and all that came up were marketing articles that touted that the iphone was actually the best thing since sliced bread.

Till I play with one, I gonna be very skeptical, just like I am about the whole Apple 4g lost phone scenario.

Thank the tech gods for GPS

Image via Wikipedia

Been drivin’ through the NZ country side and the towns and rural roads for a few days now, and just managed to get on to the super information highway only now.
My gal was smart enough to rent a GPS along with the red car that we are riding. Its a Navman GPS (a nz based company – website found here), which has an easy touch screen display, good voice directions (meaning the voice isnt too irritating) and the updating of the display is top notch.

A GPS gives you assurance, via a voice and a red dot on a road on a display. This makes you lose that nagging feeling that you arent going in the right direction

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I have heard of a few bad experiences where a GPS wont take you the optimum way, but it will get you there, if its only eventually.

We’ve been able to get to far flung tourist attractions, navigate long dark roads and be assured that the turn off is just up ahead, despite the stygian darkness all around. If youre travelling, driving and road tripping, Kerouac never had it so good.

Re:remix

This is the age of remix.

Image via Wikipedia

A remix; wiki defined is -

“A remix is an alternative version of a song, different from the original version. This name is also used for any alterations of medias other than a song (film, literature etc.)” see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remix

Accordingly Remixes span more than just the music genre -

The novel: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by author Steve Hockensmith, a combination of literature and pop culture fascination

The film: Clash of the Titans, a remix of mythology and a re imagining of the 1981 movie.

Art, fashion and anything that revisits old elements and adds a combination of  new elements. But this is a long standing tradition of society. We are standing on the shoulders of giants. These are the years where people can put together wutang clan with beatles, sound good, is good and be recognised as a viable product and sufficient work and intellectual capital.

Some people say, unless sufficiently protected, information that is up for grabs is open to everyone.

We say: Get used to it.

Privacy and YOU

The article Privacy is Not Dead, Just Evolving by Tony Bradley is a quick nice bite – a “databyte” to read which

Image via Wikipedia

synchronises nicely with the views held here @Technometry.

In the penultimate sentence of the article Mr Bradley writes

“the challenge is to strike a balance between providing access to all of the information in the world, without exposing all of the information in the world.”

Furthermore that “privacy is subjective” and as stressed in a recent  SXSWi keynote address, “people just want control over when and how their information is shared”.

Some quick and related technometry observations:

If you dont want people to see anything on Facebook/Friendster/MySpace, dont put it up there. Social Media is about sharing. Professional information can be posted to Linkedin. Personal Viewpoints on a Blog. Segment and pair each internet tool to its purpose.

If you do load a picture, understand to control its privacy status – facebook policy can be found here and helpful directions can be found here.

Make it clear to your friends how you feel about postings of pictures about yourself. There is no shame, in this day and age to make put censor controls on your physical friend network as well.

People need to better recognise that privacy is no longer a broad sphere, its a universe.  Conduct a vanity search on your name in Google. If you dont appear…youre one of the few.

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• Internet perceived as a fundamental right (v3.co.uk)

The age of the Infocalypse

Image by Marshall Astor – Food Pornographer via Flickr

Image by kevindooley via Flickr

This world is now a heaving social consciousness that shifts and proclaims and tweets and updates and spouts gouts of data, information and knowledge about itself. What was once a series of nodes, is now a singular navel gazing datastrosity that finds itself reflected in a mirror that reflects to eternity. Its holding a mirror to itself, speaking into a mouthpiece, without a filter, it has its own ear hard up against its mouth, and this mouth whispers and whispers and whispers information which people are free to attach and attribute meaning and to anchor celebrity and diggs and likes.

It is the age of the infocalypse, where everyone can choose to be the Protagonist. We are no longer mere  consumers – we can take it upon ourselves and hide and block some and follow others. We can start our own memes, and incite our own flashmob.

Now is the time. Tom0rrow is the time. Anytime is a good time. The global village is no longer a village. We’ve upgraded and reached escape velocity. All information is now accessible if you have the user privileges. Google is going for the early land grab. Microsoft is making you view the land through their own window. How you see the information is a matter of the browser and the browsed.

What is next after the internet? Metaverse.  Datafeed –> Omnifeed –> Food for thought.