Technology
We’re in heavy times, these days, what with our system of government collapsing around us, so sometimes we need a change of soundtrack or cinematic distraction. Finding new entertainment, however, has become more-difficult, too. Very little music feels fresh, and movies are terrible. On those rare occasions that I’ve thought to watch a new movie,…
Yesterday, I listened to Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy album all the way though for maybe the first time because it’s the 574th best-selling album, and I’m tracing that list from the top. The band’s prior recording, Vs., had been such a disappointment that I didn’t bother with its follow-up. Vs. came out while I was a…
Almost in passing during a recent podcast featuring Greg McKeown, Tim Ferriss stepped into an idea I’ve been contemplating lately: [A]s my job, I interview some of the top performers in the world, hundreds of them, and the change that I have seen for those people in that subset who are already, I think most…
Nobody should be surprised by news that Roomba vacuums caught images of users in (umm) compromising positions and then the Venezuelan workers who review the images for product development posted them in an online forum. This is a major reason that, even as an “early adopter” type of guy, I’m reluctant to move onto the…
Richard Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR.org, speaks with John about Amelia Earhart and other aircraft mysteries.
Sometimes the commentary on social media gives one the impression of an alternate reality. At the highest level, social media is a world of information, which means it can be entirely abstract. You can say or imagine anything, and the more you live apart from tangible reality, the less what you say and imagine has…
Not long ago, technology was beginning to allow the blind to see. Beware the need for maintenance and software support: These three patients, and more than 350 other blind people around the world with Second Sight’s implants in their eyes, find themselves in a world in which the technology that transformed their lives is just…
Something clicked as I listened to the podcast version of the Megyn Kelly episode embedded from YouTube below. Her primary guest was Tristan Harris, a Silicon Valley player who’s been warning about the manipulative dangers of social media. He’s taken the Stanford classes on “persuasive technology” along with the tech entrepreneurs and knows how it…
That advice has been coming to mind a lot recently. For instance, defending his support for the child-grooming bill, Democrat Representative Brandon Potter (Cranston), asserts that about one-quarter of youth suicides are sexual minorities. He doesn’t provide a source for his claim, but let’s stipulate that the statistic might be true. It still doesn’t tell…
A few weeks ago, I received a disconcerting email from the team at Facebook/Meta requesting detailed instructions and credentials to access areas in which a Facebook-related app is functioning. I’ve written about my concerns on Accuracy in Media: Where this request might fit in Meta’s schemes is impossible to say. Maybe it is as innocent as…