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version seven. http://demongin.org |
Contention
Re-published by the http://techangels.us blog.
Sunday, 2005-05-01 | Careerism, Classic Gin, On the Internet
High Noon in Los Alamos
"LANL Director George P. Nanos shut down the entire laboratory in July, 2004, citing "egregious" security and safety violations. The results of the shutdown include a cost to the taxpayer of approximately $850 million, an exodus of highly talented staff members, and the loss of untold millions of dollars of funding from customers who have taken their business elsewhere."
Those are the opening words of the blog that the New York Times calls the locus of a "blog rebellion among scientists and engineers at Los Alamos, the federal government's premier nuclear weapons laboratory, [that] is threatening to end the tenure of its director, G. Peter Nanos."
The stand-off between rabble-rouser Douglas Roberts (in whose name the public blog is published) and Nanos, in that it has been exacerbated by media coverage, demonstrates once again the manner in which issues can be brought to national attention by a handful of dedicated bloggers. Those who follow the Videogame industry will be familiar with the similar effect that a blog by employees of VG giant EA Games had last year; the unethical and illegal business practices of EA Games were brought to national attention in a controversy that arrested the VG industry for weeks and culminated in a series of investigations and inquiries that are still on-going.
Bloggers have, once again, demonstrated the manner in which blogging empowers individuals and poses a constant threat to cover-ups, chicanery and corporate crime.
Steve Jobs' Carefully Crafted Persona
The face of Apple, Steve Jobs, has recently suffered a fate that many regard as worse than death; he has lived to see his biography published. Unlike many, however, Jobs is not reacting with anything resembling aplomb or grace. The New York Times reports: "in an image-obsessed fit of pique, Apple Computer has banished books published by John Wiley & Sons from the shelves of Apple's 105 retail stores - all because of Wiley's plans to publish an unauthorized biography of Mr. Jobs, Apple's chief executive. It is not clear whether Mr. Jobs or anyone else at Apple has read the book - "iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business," by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon, which will go on sale next month."
Apple, for reasons that are as dubious as they are incomprehensible, has been attempting to block publication since having caught wind of it some months ago. Techworthy reports: "Apple executives say they"re just trying to reign in writers who disseminate secrets about the company. That's understandable. But we don"t see how a book about Jobs" rise "as an innovator and entrepreneur" threatens any such intellectual property. And judging from what we"ve read, the company needn"t worry about the book tarnishing their brand, either. Rather, the biography credits Jobs with "transforming modern culture first with the Macintosh and more recently with the iPod." And the publisher describes jobs as "the leading maverick of the computer age and the king of digital cool." Ouch. That hurts."
The notoriously image-conscious computer manufacturer has been involved in similarly odd feats of PR throughout the years, but this one seems to have a certain sinister quality. Secrets about the company? Perhaps they fear that other manufacturers will reap an enormous profit by uncovering the secret to the manner in which Apple has managed to sell computers in translucent plastic cases which prominently feature glimmering logos?
As Shakespeare's heroes, villains and supporting characters have variously remarked, "'tis strange."
Web Comics and Internet Publishing
"Comparative Media Studies colloquium series hosted four independent comicbook [sic] artists on Thursday," reports MIT's TechnologyReview.com. The colloquium "touched on all aspects of the indie comix [sic] business--graphic novels, movie deals, Marvel/DC vs. self-publishing, fans, conventions, and much more."
Scott Kurtz, the man behind the popular internet comic PvP (http://www.pvponline.com) who made major waves in the industry last July by announcing that newspapers could syndicate his daily comic at no charge, and his polarizing, ad hominem battles with certain syndicated newspaper cartoonists have helped to draw at least a few important lines in the sand concerning the credibility and legitimacy of internet publishing.
Kurtz, last August, wrote thus of the manner in which his announcement was received: "That's all these print cartoonists can do. There's a private forum called The Wisenheimer where all they do is take turns telling each other how awesome they are.
In between dismissing me entirely, and mocking the way my Korean friends speak English, they were able to make some points against my plan, but I don't feel they hold up well to scrutiny. The most popular argument is that a cartoonist can't get his strip into papers without a syndicate. That is catagorically [sic] FALSE! Many cartoonists self-syndicate and several of them end up giving their strips to the papers for nothing or next to nothing."
It has been observed elsewhere that this debate tends to divide along lines of age; the internet as a medium for publishing (like Gutenberg's printing press before it) is vilified by its aging critics as an inconsequential youth movement because of the manner in which it heralds the obsolescence of the one in which they have a commercial interest.
It will be interesting to see if any papers or projects regarding this phenomenon come out of this MIT conference on webcomics.
OS Dilemma
Much hay has been made in the popular media lately about the manner in which Apple seems to have put Microsoft in the proverbial "hot seat" by releasing a new version of its Operating System (OS); dismissed by Windows enthusiasts as yet another inconsequential "iPod peripheral" that, despite its hefty price tag, offers only aesthetic updates to the Mac experience, Tiger (the name for the new Apple OS) is at the very least focusing attention on the "late 2006" release date that Microsoft has announced for its forthcoming OS (codenamed "Longhorn").
MySA.com reports: "[t]he long-delayed Windows upgrade, code-named Longhorn and now expected in December 2006, has been touted as the most significant update to the ubiquitous operating system since Windows 95 launched in 1995."
Microsoft employee and blogger Robert Scoble (http://scoble.weblogs.com/) has recently responded to those who have been critical of the long wait for Longhorn: "Lots of the market confusion is coming from that lack of transparency. Truth is, Longhorn last year went back to the drawing board. Did you watch the Jim Allchin video I did on Thursday? Did you notice that he said he's only been using Longhorn for three months? That's quite brave transparency there. He's admitting that Longhorn wasn't usable until just three months ago -- read between the lines and you can see we went back to the drawing board." Scoble also writes of "the days more than two years ago when I was invited to a secret Longhorn preview."
As controversial reports about the details surrounding Microsoft's forthcoming new OS compete with editorials for and against Apple's recently released OS update, it seems that the age-old antagonism between Mac and PC users is at an all-time high. And while it makes approximately no sense whatsoever to compare an entirely new OS with a collection of miscellaneous updates, passionate comparison pieces between Longhorn and Tiger have been popping up in tech blogs, internet forums and newspaper editorials.
As one observer remarked, "[a]n operating system is an environment. One you choose to spend a lot of time in (I'm probably averaging over eight hours a day in that environment right now). Which one you choose affects you in the same way your choice in city, or school, or workplace affects you. It's that important."
It seems that sort of sentiment has a lot more to do with the recent comparisons than anything else.
I've Got Sunshine in a Bag
Gizmag.com reports on a brilliant innovation in personal electronics: "April 30, 2005 Juice Bags is a line of urban daypacks that fuse technology and environmentalism by integrating carrying cases with high-efficiency solar panels that convert sunshine into electricity. The bags let you take your cell phone, MP3 player or PDA wherever you go and charge them using sunlight."
Reware (http://www.rewarestore.com), the manufacturer of Juice Bags, is dedicated to fleecing the environmentally conscious flock by turning the environmentalist hot topics of "Renewable Energy and Sustainability into a wide variety of products and projects. T-shirts highlighting a revolutionary printing/dyeing process, the new Juice Bag line packing a built in solar panel, and more products on the way" are not just urbane, hipper-than-thou novelties, but also advertise their owners" preservationist sensibilities and affinities.
The company's mission announces that they are nobody's fool and if you"re not with them, you"re against them: "If you're like us, you are becoming increasingly aware that through better processes, better materials and better ideas, there is indeed a better way. We're not preaching. We're making stuff."
Recharging your personal electronics on the go has never been so edgy!
