Thu, 24 November 2011
Welcome to Episode 87 of Light On Light Through, in which I offer ongoing commentary about Occupy Wall Street, September 27 through November 23, 2011. The commentary first appeared in 15 blog posts - dates, titles, and links to the text of the blog posts are listed below. Main themes include Occupy Wall Street as a resurgence of direct democracy, police violation of the First Amendment in their violence against protesters and the press, failure of the Obama administration to protect the rights of Occupy citizens attacked by munipalities, and much more. This podcast is about 55 minutes in length. It is intended as both analysis and eyewitness to one of the most important revolutions in human history. Further chronicles will appear here in subsequent months. Helpful links -
My television interviews about OWS ... with Chuck Scarborough on NY Nightly News ... on FOX 5 NY ... Relevant movie ... Tiffany Shlain's Connected moive my home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006
my latest media book: New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly "Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit"-- in Curled Up With A Good Book
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Mon, 7 November 2011
Welcome to Episode 86 of Light On Light Through, in which I share a recently recovered voicemail from Marshall McLuhan, from August 1978, about my doctoral dissertation, "Human Replay: A Theory of the Evolution of Media," which I had mailed up to him in Canada, a few weeks earlier, before I left with my wife Tina on our summer vacation ... Helpful links -
 my home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006
my latest media book: New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly "Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit"-- in Curled Up With A Good Book
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Direct download: LOLT-86-McLuhan-voicemail-1978.mp3 Category:Technology & Society -- posted at: 6:24 PM |
Sun, 17 April 2011
 The title of Episode 84 of Light On Light Through says it all: the continuing nuclear crisis in Japan shows why it's long since time to take our leave of nuclear power as a mainstream energy source on this planet.Helpful links -
my home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006
my latest media book: New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly "Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit"-- in Curled Up With A Good Book |
Sun, 21 November 2010
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 82 - Kojo Nnamdi's complete National Public Radio (NPR) Septemeber 2009 interview with me about New New Media. This is one of best interviews I've ever been treated to on the subject. We cover all the usual bases, from Twitter to YouTube, but with historical context and live questions via email, Twitter, and phone.
my home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006
published on 3 September 2009: New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly "Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit"-- in Curled Up With A Good Book FREE audiobook of The Plot to Save Socrates from Audible special trial offer!
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Sun, 8 August 2010
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 78, in which you will hear a tale - all true - about time, space, the vision of an artist 100 years ago, the vision of another artist now ... a tale of two Presidents, of the power of the penny to bring us the past and make it come alive. I interview Joel Iskowitz, whose depictions appear on the back of American coins and on UK stamps, on illustrations for NASA and the Boyscouts ... We talk about the capacity of a coin to capture the past and bring it to millions, how Victor David Brenner persuaded Theodore Roosevelt to commission a new Lincoln Penny back at the beginning of the 20th century, and how Joel envisioned this scene and rescued it from the oblivion of the past in a brand new lithograph. This interview will be of special interest to historians, artists, coin collectors, and all students of communication and technology, and how this affects our psyches and our world...
Links:
Lithograph by Iskowitz depicting Theodore Roosevelt sitting for Victor David Brenner for the Panama Canal Service Medal at Sagamore Hill. Courtesy Signature Art Medals.
my home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006
published on 3 September 2009: New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly "Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit"-- in Curled Up With A Good Book FREE audiobook of The Plot to Save Socrates from Audible special trial offer!
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Thu, 11 March 2010
A special Episode 73 of Light On Light Through -- in which I discuss my current assessment of the Prius I've been driving since September 2006, and which was the subject of Episodes 1 and 32 of this very podcast. Given the serious problems with accelerator and brake action reported for the Prius and other Toyotas, I though I'd chime in here with at least one data point: which is, although I did have a little problem with a headlight, my Prius is driving just fine.
Links:
home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006
published on 3 September 2009: New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly "Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit"-- in Curled Up With A Good Book Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE
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Sun, 28 February 2010
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 71: New New Media and Religion, in which I briefly discuss how blogging, Twitter, and "new new media" - which enable consumers of information to become producers - enable more human beings to consider and communicate about what it is that makes us human, what we're doing here in this universe, in other words, the essence of religion. Links:
home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006
published on 3 September 2009: New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly "Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit"-- in Curled Up With A Good Book Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE |
Mon, 30 November 2009
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 68: Weep Not for Newspapers .... in which I explain why the decline of paper newspapers may be the best thing that ever happened to journalism and its goal of keeping citizens in a democracy well informed. This is the latest installment in my continuing series, What's Newer than New New Media, which until now has consisted only of written blogs.Links:
home page: http://paullevinson.info published on 3 September 2009: New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit" -- in Curled Up With A Good Book
Direct download: LOLT-68-WeepNotforNewspapers.mp3 Category:Technology & Society -- posted at: 10:25 PM |
Sat, 8 August 2009
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 65: An Introduction to New New Media ... with the publication of my latest book, New New Media, just weeks away (Penguin Academics will be publishing the book on 4 September 2009), I thought I would share with you the interview Dr. Howard Gluss did with me on his KFNX Radio show on June 12, 2009. It provides a 20-minute introduction to the way that Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and what I call "new new media" are changing all of us from consumers into producers, and in the process revolutionizing all aspects of our lives, from the way we watch television to the way we elect Presidents...Links:
 home page: http://paullevinson.info more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006 coming in Summer 2009: New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate ... heroine Sierra Waters is sexy as hell ... there's a bite to Levinson's wit" -- in Curled Up With A Good Book
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Mon, 2 February 2009
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 59: The Future of Media ... In the Fall of 2007, I sat down for an interview by Mark Molaro, for his popular Internet TV show, The Alcove. His guests have included Arianna Huffington, Carl Bernstein, Campbell Brown, and other notables. Mark and I talked for 20 minutes about the future of media, the impact of new media on everything from politics to television shows such as Mad Men, to my view that "information overload" is really "information underload," or lack of vital navigational information. This interview was the first time I publicly started talking about New New Media, the subject of my forthcoming book (to be published by Pearson, Allyn & Bacon in the Summer 2009). You can see the interview on television via the link or YouTube screen below. Or, if more convenient, or you'd like to listen while running, walking, or driving, you an listen to the major excerpt presented in this podcast...Helpful links:
home page: http://paullevinson.info my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . heroine Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit" -- in Curled Up With A Good Book
The Alcove interview on YouTube |
Fri, 12 December 2008
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 55, a very special episode about cyberbullying and a remedy - the music of the Truth on Earth band. It's been in the news, especially recently - the 13-year old girl who took her life after being set up on MySpace by a 49-year woman, who pretended to be a boy in love with the girl and broke her heart. The Truth on Earth band, consisting of three teenagers - Serena, Kiley, and Tess - decided to do something about this problem of people assuming false identities on social media and hurting other people. The band wrote and recorded a song - "Shot With a Bulletless Gun". It's receiving a lot of attention. And with good reason - an example of the best of the Internet - Helpful links:
home page: http://paullevinson.info my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit" -- in Curled Up With A Good Book
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Sun, 18 November 2007
Welcome to Episode 49 of Light On Light Through in which I converse with digital artist Ken Hudson aka Kenny Hubble of and about Second Life. At ten million accounts and growing, the vibrant virtual community of Second Life is becoming a way of life for many. Ken interviewed me in his Media Ecology Second Life series a few weeks ago, and I'm still enjoying it. Ken and I talk about life in Second Life - how to do it, how to live it, and its relationship to real or "first" life in everything ranging from art and music to (of course) sex. Whether you're an old hand at Second Life, a newbie, or just want to learn more about this fascinating place, you won't want to miss this special 40-minute interview (and, actually, there is no way that you can, because it will always be available here - and likely somewhere in Second Life, too). Plus - my avatar reads from The Plot to Save Socrates in Second Life in December 2007 - enjoy the videoclip.... "Athens, 2042... Sierra Waters had always done everything for the thrill..." Helpful links:
  For more of my work on the relationship real life to cyberlife, see my Realspace: The Fate of Physical Presence in the Digital Age  home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv and http://www.myspace.com/twiceuponarhyme videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006 my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . heroine Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit" -- in Curled Up With A Good Book
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Sat, 13 October 2007
Marshall McLuhan died on the last day of 1980 - not only years before there was micro-blogging and blogging, but a few years before e-mail and commenting on Web pages. In 1986, I wrote a piece for the IEEE Transactions of Professional Communications entitled Marshall McLuhan and Computer Conferencing, in which I said that the pithy, aphoristic bursts which characterized his writing - his great works from the 1960s consisted of chapters often not more than a page or two in length - were actually a form of web writing ("computer conferencing") decades before the Web and online communication emerged. Just the other day, I realized something more about McLuhan's writing. The memorable titles he gave to his short chapters - for example, "The Medium is the Message" in Understanding Media (1964) or "Nobody ever made a grammatical error in a non-literate society" in the Gutenberg Galaxy (1962) (which has 107 of these gems) - were actually micro-blogs. Blogging in his page-or-two chapters, micro-blogging in the titles or "glosses" (his term) he gave them. All of this back in 1962 and 1964. McLuhan was in touch with a mode of expression, a vehicle of the human intellect, which was clear and percolating in his mind, even though the technology of its delivery was still decades away from invention. Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 8:29 PM |
Thu, 20 September 2007
I was in an elevator yesterday afternoon. It almost got stuck. You know what I mean? It stopped for a split second in between floors, shuddered, and then resumed its upward journey. But it got me to thinking (always a dangerous development). How little portable media have made every place more useful than it used to be. A stalled elevator, a car stuck in a traffic jam, a seat in a doctor’s office when you’re waiting endlessly for an appointment - a wireless device, whether cell phone, Blackberry, or iPhone, makes all of those formerly useless places useful. The result is that we are enjoying increasing discretion and control over our lives and our activities. Increasingly, we do nothing when we want to do nothing, not when circumstances dictate that we do nothing. That's a good step forward.
Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 4:06 AM |
Mon, 10 September 2007
Is Steve Jobs Sick Of The Cell Phone Industry Already? Crunchgear's Seth Porges asked and and answered that yesterday: Yes. The new iPod Touch steals some of the iPhone’s thunder. That's proof enough. And then there’s Beck’s “Cellphone’s Dead,? the Touch’s demo song. Observes Sascha Segan of PC Magazine, “The phone is the weakest part of the iPhone anyway.? I think not. First, Porges and Segan make the mistake that industry analysts - in contrast to media historians - often do. They’re equating the industry, or social and economic structures surrounding a medium, with what the medium does or doesn’t do, itself. Television national networks, for example, were spent by the late 1980s. But television - the enjoyment of audio-visual stories, news, etc on a screen under one's control - was as powerfully appealing as ever. The result was the not decline of television, but its migration to cable and BitTorrent. The phone is not the weakest part of the iPhone - it’s actually the strongest part. A device that gave us great connections to all of the Internet would be wonderful - but its magic is that it also lets us call someone we love, or a business partner, and receive calls from same. A conversation with a real person - if she or he is the right person - usually trumps anything else we might be up to online. AT&T and its antiquated system is the weakest part. But
AT&T was never in the vanguard of cell phone service in the first
place. Indeed, as the near-monopolistic giant in the first hundred years of the telephone, it impeded its dissemination to the point that it was not until the 1950s, some 75 years after the telephone's invention, that more than 50-percent of Americans had telephones in their homes. Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 5:02 AM |
Sat, 8 September 2007
Seriously ... not science fiction ... science fiction can be very serious, actually, but this is one-hundred percent real... It's about that letter that I wrote and mailed back in 1972, which turned up a few days ago on eBay... You can see it right here. September 22, 1972 ... that was the day I wrote and presumably mailed that letter. They had xeroxes back then, I suppose I might have xeroxed it, but I don't recall. If I did, I know I haven't seen it since then, until it was on my screen two days ago... I put the letter in a mailbox back then. It was an age a lot like ours. Television, radio, rock music, even ships in space. But crucially different in one extraordinary respect: no Web. I couldn't have imagined, even in the science fiction I was just beginning to write back then, that that letter would come back to me in this way. Maybe if I had been rummaging around in my attic this week, looking at old files, and I had come up with a copy of that letter, it would have felt different. More like a peek at the past. But on my screen, the letter feels as if it's traveled right from the past, right from my hands when I dropped it into whatever mailbox back then, to my eyes, right now. September 22, 1972 ... glimmering before me, now ... a message in a screen-bottle across time ... a communication from my earlier self, intended for someone else, not me, but now I realize that maybe this was meant to be ... Maybe, in some cosmic recondite logic, I was intended to be the recipient of this letter, right now, right here, in this way, all along ... It feels strange, but good, to be in touch with my 1972 self this way ... I think I've done ok ... he would have been happy to know that this was the result, or at least one result, of the letter he put in the mail to me... Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 8:07 AM |
Thu, 6 September 2007
I was just looking at the small collection of sanders my wife and I have acquired over the years... No, it's not a collection of power tools - I don't really do too much woodwork. The sander - also known as a pounce pot - was a crucial part of the quintessentially Victorian writing process. You started, of course, with paper, pen, and ink. But the ink back then was not quick-drying. So you sprinkled some sand or pumice on to your paper, and gently blew it off. And the pounce pot or sander held the sand. The pots came in various styles and constructions. My favorites are wood, porcelain, and enamel. What always occurs to me, whenever I look at our pounce pots, is how utterly without practical use they are today. The evolution of media passed them by, a long time ago... The world of letters has gone from hand-written documents that needed drying via sand from a pounce pot to ... micro-blogging on Pownce... Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 5:56 PM |
Wed, 5 September 2007
Fall 2007 classes begin today at Fordham University, where I teach. I have a big Intro to Mass Media course, which I teach every term, and I’m looking forward to igniting at 1:30pm... I have a policy - which I’m pretty relaxed about, as I am about most
rules - about cell phones and laptops in my classroom. In general, I
discourage students from talking or texting on their cell phones during
class. Talking, of course, can distract the rare student who wants to hear my lecture. But even texting has its problems - let's say I ask a question, and someone texts a student from last term for the answer? But laptops are ok. Yeah, I know students IM on them, but the laptops at least provide the possibility of looking something up - an encyclopedia or library on the go - and that’s fine with me, even during one of my lectures. But ... what should I do about iPhones? I have no idea how many students will have them today, but it’s a sure bet that more and more students will have iPhones in the future. The iPhone, obviously, is a cell phone and web browser (and an iPod). I’m going to err on the side of open systems. I already encourage my students to read blogs, listen to podcasts, watch videos on YouTube - it's written into the Intro to Media curriculum. If my students want to use their iPhones as cell phones, and have conversations with friends during the class, so be it. But on the chance that they’ll be using the iPhone to locate some bit of fascinating, pertinent knowledge on the Web - hey, that’s all to the good. Of course, I will draw the line during our open book exams… Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 5:25 AM |
Mon, 3 September 2007
Welcome to Light On Light Through podcast Episode 43, Violence and Videogames: The Truth, where I examine the two main types of "scientific evidence" that purport to show that violence in videogames leads to violence in the real world - and explain why they show nothing of the sort. The experiments measure violence "profiles" based on results of tests, not violence in the real world. The surveys show correlation not causation between violent videogames and violence in the real world - and I explain exactly what that means. I've been studying and teaching about the statistical flaws and inadequacies in these studies for years as a Professor of Communication and Media Studies. If you'd like to really understand what these studies are trying to demonstrate, but why they do not, invest 15 minutes of your time and listen to this podcast. Plus flashes ... iTunes and NBC split - no big deal - bitTorent is the future, anyway ... now ABC is not only misreporting Ron Paul, but cropping Kucinich out of photos ... great summer television...
videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006 The Plot to Save Socrates - my latest novel Try GotoMyPC free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomypc.com/podcast |
Wed, 29 August 2007
My colleague iPhonematters columnist Tanner Godarzi has posted a disturbing piece over on Tech Blot, inquiring if Digg has a "Secret, Highly Aggressive and Fatal Content Filter Machine". Maybe not coincidentally: I noticed the post on Digg this morning. I read it, found it plausible, even likely. And now, back after an afternoon as Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies, I see that ... the post has been buried on Digg already. Buried, even though it has over 70 Diggs! Which makes me think Godarzi's hypothesis is even more likely true. I've already written about the Digg bury brigades, who seem to get their kicks by making sure as many stories as they can get to don't make it to Popularity on Digg. I've certainly seen many stories about Ron Paul - including a few (but not all) of my own - suffer this fate. They get 20, 30, 40, 50 Diggs in a short period of time, only to be Buried. Until now, I thought this was result of hyperactive buriers - anti-Ron Paul and other people who don't like open, democratic flows of information. But Godarzi is suggesting something much more sinister and destructive. He believes Digg may have a blacklist of urls which are given very short leashes - just a few hours (unlike the 24 hours or more for other stories), after which they are automatically Buried, unless they have achieved Popularity. Godarzi correctly points out that, until a few months ago, certain urls - such as those from MySpace - were banned outright, but now they can be entered on Digg. He wonders: did Digg replace this clumsy form of banning with a more insidious kind? His post (now buried) provides the technical details of how Digg might do this ... I'm wondering, now, too... I hope Digg will shed some light on this blacklist.  Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 11:24 PM |
Wed, 29 August 2007
It's always useful to look at history. Since AT&T lawyers seem to be doing the most grumbling about opening the iPhone to other carriers, I thought it might be helpful to look at AT&T’s reign as a near monopoly in American telephone service, or at very least the predominating force, until the “divestiture? on January 1, 1984 gave regional service to the Baby Bells. You needn't look very far to notice a very telling fact. Indeed, it is something which always struck me as the most telling about AT&T’s 100-year rule - something which says it all, I think, about the impact of near-monopolies on phone service: The telephone was invented in 1876. It wasn't until the 1950s that more than 50% of Americans enjoyed telephone service in their homes. Yes, the pace of progress was a little different, then, but not that different. Television was in more than 90% of American homes by end of the 1950s, a little more than ten years after it was introduced commercially. AT&T held its service very close to its vest. Customers in
effect leased phones from AT&T. You had no choice but to use its
service. Sound familiar? Under this regime, it took more three quarters of a century for phone service to reach the homes of more than 50% of Americans. Unfortunately, AT&T seems to have not learned very much from this experience. It is trying its same old tricks with iPhone service. Fortunately, it looks like we won't have to wait a hundred years to divest ourselves of these tricks. Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 5:52 AM |
Mon, 27 August 2007
It was the summer of 1984 - the very dawn of the digital age. Stewart Brand and I were having lunch with several other people near the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute in La Jolla, California, where we had just given lectures in the morning. That was when I first heard Stewart say "information wants to be free." He said it again over lunch. And I replied - well, maybe so, but creators of information still need to eat. I was a staunch supporter of copyright and patent. I’m still a strong believer in copyright. But, in the two and a half decades
since then, the wretched excesses of the RIAA and like organizations
have caused me to clarify to myself and others exactly what I mean.
And that would be: If some person or organization wants to make money
from my writing or other creative work, they need my permission and of
course need to pay me. I'm not allergic to money. But if someone wants to take my book out of a
library, read my blog, listen to my podcast, buy a second-hand copy of
my book, that’s fine, even great. I'm delighted, and I don’t expect to get paid. Which means that, to
be consistent, I should have no problem with someone acquiring a new
copy of any of my books and not paying me - and, in fact, that’s fine,
too. I have no problem at all with that. And that's why, as I wrote yesterday, I was so happy about George Hotz and his re-soldering the iPhone to work with a T-Mobile sim card. Apple and AT&T were wrong to lock the iPhone in the first place. What George did was not only legally permissible but ethical laudable. In the digital age, you can best make money - as well as friends -by including not excluding. See also A Lesson from AT&T History.
For more on Stewart Brand and the history and fut
Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 3:53 AM |
Sat, 25 August 2007
I just saw him on CNN, and I can't very well applaud through the screen, so I wanted to do it here: Bravo for unlocking iPhone! What does this mean? The iPhone from Apple comes "locked" when purchased - meaning, it can only work with an AT&T sim card - you know, the card on which you have phone numbers from the phone you're currently using. So, what's someone to do who buys an iPhone, but is currently using a phone with a sim from a different carrier? In George Hotz's case, that carrier was T-Mobile. So, the 17-year old took apart his iPhone, and after two months of tinkering and analyzing and soldering, he got his iPhone to work with his T-Mobile sim. Which is the way it should have been, all along. Apple and AT&T may not like it, but what George Hotz did is perfectly legal - owners of cell phones have the right to put in whatever sim card they choose. Apple may have locked the iPhone, but George Hotz, having purchased the iPhone, had every right to unlock it, if he could. Locks are not way to go in the digital age...
Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 10:19 PM |
Sat, 25 August 2007
Mental telepathy is still a long way off. After all, communicating via voice and fingers, to people near and far, in response to every impulse, is not the same as communicating mind-to-mind.
But consider this: The first electronic medium - the telegraph - required the user to travel to an office outside the home to send a message. The telephone greatly improved this, by allowing sending and receiving of messages from within the home, and via voice. That still left you incommunicado when you were walking down the street, with no pay phones in sight. But cell phones came to the rescue on that score - the cell phone in effect obsolesces the phone booth - and enables us to communicate to anyone, anywhere, wherever we or they may be happen to be. And now iPhones and Blackberries and similar media are widening the cell phone's flow, bringing written words, pictures, moving images, and even images with sounds into our immediate grasp. All of this is physical, and therefore not yet mental telepathy. And the process is far from complete - there are many kinds of communication, like the long-predicted videophone, which are not yet integrated into the ease of the iPhone. But the distance between what our mind imagines and wants in the realm of communication has never been shorter. And when Bluetooth is thoroughly integrated with all iPhone features, and the features increased, the distance will be further shortened. And then ... well, we'll be knocking on mental telepathy’s door. We may never have it, actually. But we’ll be close. Category:Technology & Society
-- posted at: 6:15 AM |
ure of intellectual property, feel free to beg, borrow, or buy my book, 
